


<" 






..^^ :-Ma\ \f ;^\ %,.- _.^. \f 








V^* 





f\ 










^^•^^. 















0^ .L'^% > 











'oK 



q.. -., ^•' ^0 '^^ 







^ -^^0^ : 





^ ^J> * o « o ^ O,^ 











PROCEEDINGS 



AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



1812-1849 




WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A. 

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 

1912 



PROCEEDINGS 



AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

1812-1849 / 6 




WORCESTEE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A. 

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 

1912 






Stanbope iprees 

F. H. CILSCN COMPANY 
BOSTON. U.S.A. 



<Bfa» Society 



tCT 



INTRODUCTION 



The consecutive publication of the Proceedings of the 
American Antiquarian Society begins with the annual meet- 
ing held October 23, 1849, since which date they have been 
regularly printed to the present time. From 1849 to 1880 
the proceedings of each meeting were printed as separate 
pamphlets, without consecutive pagination or any attempt 
to form them into volumes, so that each issue is properly a 
volimie by itself, any arrangement into volumes being left to 
the fancy of the owner, and all references being of necessity 
by date. 

The record book of the Society's meetings begins abruptly 
with the petition to the legislature, the act of incorporation 
and the advertisement caUing the first meeting, followed by 
the record of the meeting itself. This volume therefore opens 
in the same way, it being a literal transcript of the record 
book, with such additions from the archives of the Society and 
other sources as make the reports of the doings of each meet- 
ing as complete as is now possible. 

The records themselves are usually confined to votes passed 
and the election of officers and members. Committee reports 
are seldom recorded and in very few cases are the names of 
the members present given. As to this Mr. Thomas' diary 
is equally reticent, which, from his great interest in the 
Society, is rather surprising, or would be were it not that his 
whole diary is disappointing owing to the brevity of the 
entries. He always records the fact that the Society met, 
but in the briefest way, seldom with any reference to the 
nimiber present and never' mentioning their names except in 
the case of the first meeting. Regarding this he says under 
date of November 19, 181 2: — "Attended first meeting of the 
American Antiquarian Society — it was holden at the Ex- 
change Coffee house. Rev. President Kirkland of Harvard 
University, Professor Peck, Rev. T. M. Harris, Rev. Dr. 
Bancroft, Judge Bangs and a number of others were present. 
Ofl&cers were chosen and the Society organized — I was elected 
President." 



Y 



vi Introduction 

The business of the Society, during the first ten years of its 
existence, was largely transacted at its meetings, and little was 
left to the action of the council. Probably the attendance, 
even at the earHer annual meetings when an address was 
expected, was small. Railroad communication did not exist, 
and although the Society was much larger before 1831 than 
after that date, members hving at any distance from Boston 
or Worcester were not likely to take the journey to either 
place simply for the sake of attending the Society's meetings, 
especially as nothing but routine business was usually trans- 
acted. Between 1820 and 1830, when interest in the Society 
seemed to be waning, the meetings were often adjourned, 
sometimes more than once, for lack of a sufficient number to 
do business, though what this number was it is impossible to 
say, as no quorum was fixed by the laws of the Society until 
183 1. During this period Mr. Thomas says of four meetings 
held in Worcester: — under date of June 28, 182 1, "very few 
members attended;" November 28, 182 1, "few attended"; 
June 30, 1825, "adjourned for want of members to do busi- 
ness"; and June 26, 1828, "but few members attended." 
Of a meeting held January 27, 1820, he says: — "Am. Antiq'n 
Society met at Sikes's Worcester Coffee house — a special 
meeting — Maj'r Russell and Step'n Codman, Esq'r., from 
Boston attended," as though the presence of Boston members 
at a Worcester meeting was of so rare occurrence as to be 
worth noting. On the other hand he writes October 22, 1828, 
"Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Merrick and Mr. Baldwin went to Boston 
to the Annual Meeting of the Am. Antiq'n Society to be 
holden there tomorrow." 

In 1 83 1 Mr. Thomas died, bequeathing to the Society what 
was at that time a liberal endowment, and making pro\ision 
for an enlargement of the building, already become too small. 
The Society thus possessed by the hberality of its foimder, 
a valuable collection of books, an adequate building, and an 
income sufficient to provide for the care of both. Interest 
seemed to revive at once and at the annual meeting in October, 
as recorded in the diary of Christopher Columbus Baldwin, 
twenty- two members attended, a revised set of Laws was 
adopted by which the membership was reduced to one hundred 
and forty, and, in the words of Mr. Baldwin, "an entire revo- 
lution was proposed and carried into execution." Mr. Bald- 
win was, soon after, chosen Hbrarian by the council and entered 
upon his duties on the first of April 1832. Then began a 



Introduction vii 

brief, golden age in the history of the Society which lasted 
until the unfortunate accident which occasioned Mr. Bald- 
win's death in 1835. In spite of this period of prosperity, the 
attendance at the meetings was not large, and Mr. Baldwin 
records that at the May meeting in 1834 in Boston, ''only 
four were present; " at the annual meeting in Worcester in 
October "only one member from out of town was present," 
though there was "a full attendance of the members of the 
Society Uving in Worcester; " and in May 1835, in spite of the 
fact that "we were all invited to dine with Mr. Winthrop, 
President of the Society," but ten attended the meeting. 

While Mr. Baldwin was librarian all the reports of the 
council, hbrarian and treasurer, between October 24, 1832 
and October 23, 1834 inclusive, are entered in full in the record 
book in Mr. Baldwin's handwriting. From the latter date 
until May 1849, completing the period included in this volume, 
the only reports recorded are the following: — October 1835, 
reports of the council and of the treasurer; May 1836, the 
report of the treasurer; May 1838, the reports of the council 
and treasurer; October 1838, reports of the council, com- 
mittee on the Hbrary, treasurer and librarian; and May 1839, 
report of the treasurer. 

The only attempt at printing the record of proceedings in 
the early period was through their occasional pubhcation in the 
newspapers. In 1839, in accordance with a vote of the Society 
passed at the May meeting, the report of the council, with 
the report of the Hbrarian and a list of the officers and members 
of the Society, was pubhshed, but, apparently, not until after 
the annual meeting in October, since it appears to have been 
printed in three parts, which were bound together and prob- 
ably issued and distributed at the same time. The first part, 
of sixteen pages, contains the reports of the council and of the 
librarian for May 1839; the second part, also of sixteen pages, 
contains a catalogue of the ofl&cers and members from the 
Society's organization to May 1839, and a list of the officers 
elected October 23, 1838; and the third part of four pages is 
entitled "Annual Report October 23, 1839" and contains 
abstracts of the annual reports of the council and of the 
librarian and fists of the ofiicers and members elected on that 
date. In 1843 ^ serious attempt seems to have been made 
to issue the Proceedings of the Society in regular series, and 
two numbers were printed. Evidently in the expectation 
that their pubhcation would be continued these numbers are 



viii Introduction 

headed: — Vol. i, No. i, May 1843; and Vol. i, No. 2, 
October 1843. They contain, besides an account of the meet- 
ings, brief abstracts of the reports of the council, of the 
treasurer and of the Kbrarian, a full Hst of donations, and a 
list of officers, the number for May giving, by a misprint, a 
list of officers said to have been elected "Oct. 23, 1843" 
instead of 1842. The October number contains also the 
address of Hon. John Davis, which is largely devoted to a 
tribute to Wilham Lincoln, then recently deceased. No 
reason has been found in the records or elsewhere for the 
abandonment of this publication, but no further attempt was 
made to publish the Proceedings until October 1849, after 
which they were regularly issued. 

Previous to 1839, the printed pubHcations of the Society, 
outside of the volumes of Transactions, consisted of ten pam- 
phlets, with the following titles : — 

! An Account of the American Antiquarian Society, incorporated, October 
24th, 1812. Published by order of the Society. Boston: Published by 
Isaiah Thomas, Jun. November, 1813. 

Contents: — Report by Isaiah Thomas; Petition to the Legislature; Act 
of Incorporation; Notification and Warning to the Members Incorporated; 
Laws of the Society; By-Laws; Amendments to the Laws, voted June 2 and 
October 23, 1813; List of Officers and other Members, pp. 28; List of Mem- 
bers, continued. Elected since October, 1813, pp. 29-32, supplement printed 
in 1814. 

.; An Address to the members of the American Antiquarian Society, pro- 
nounced in King's Chapel, Boston, on their first anniversary, October 23, 1813. 
By William Jenks, A. M. S. A. S. Pastor of a church in Bath, and Professor of 
Oriental Languages, &c., in Bowdoin College, Maine. Boston: published by 
Isaiah Thomas, Jun. November, 1813, pp. 28. 

An Address delivered before the American Antiquarian Society, in King's 
Chapel, Boston, on their second anniversary, October 24, 1814. By Abiel 
Holmes, D. D. Boston: published by Isaiah Thomas, Jun. November, 1814. 
Contents: The Address; Officers of the American Antiquarian Society elected 
October 24, 1814. pp. 29, (blank), i. 

Communication from the President of the American Antiquarian Society 
to the Members, October 24th, 1814. (Published by Order of the Society.) 
together with the Laws of the Society, as revised. Worcester, (Mass.) printed 
by WilHam Manning. [1815.] 

Contents: — Communication, pp. 1-12; List of Officers and other Mem- 
bers, October 24, 1814, pp. 13-22; Articles presented to the Society, pp. 23-27; 
Laws of the American Antiquarian Society,^ pp. 1-8. Total pp. 28 -f- 8. 

An Address to the Members of the American Antiquarian Society, pro- 
nounced in King's Chapel, Boston, on their third anniversary, October 23, 
1815. By William Paine, M. D., Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians 
in London. A.A.S. M.M.S. and Vice-President of the American Antiquarian 
Society. Worcester, (Mass.) printed by William Manning. 1815. 

* This was also separately published. 



Introduction 



IX 



Contents: Address; OflScers'Jof theJAmerican Antiquarian Society, elected 
October 23, 1815. pp. 27.^ 

Address to the Members of the American Antiquarian Society; together with 
the Laws and Regulations of the Institution, and a list of Donations to the 
Society since the last publication. Worcester: printed by William Manning. 
March, 1819. 

Contents: — Address (by Oliver Fiske), pp. 3-8; Laws, pp. 9-16; List of 
Officers, pp. 17-20; Articles presented, pp. 21-33; Acts and Resolves of Con- 
gress, and of several States, pp. 34-38. Total, pp. 38. 

An Address delivered at Worcester, August 24, 1820. Before the American 
Antiquarian Society, at the opening of the Antiquarian Hall, that day received 
as a donation from the President of the Society. By Isaac Goodwin. Wor- 
cester: printed by Manning & Trumbull, Sept. 1820. pp. 18.- 

Report presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, October, 1821. pp. 2.* Issued with a " Circular " letter appealing for 
subscriptions to a second volume of Transactions, pp. 4. 

By-Laws of the American Antiquarian Society. 24th October, 1831. n.p., 
n.d. pp. 7. 

An Address delivered before the American Antiquarian Society, at their 
annual meeting, October 23, 1835, in the Unitarian Meeting-House, Worcester, 
in relation to the Character and Services of their late Librarian, Christopher 
C. Baldwin, Esq. By William Lincoln. Worcester: printed for the American 
Antiquarian Society, by Henry J. Rowland. 1835. pp.19. 

The addresses, reports, communications and laws con- 
tained in these pamphlets are all reprinted, under their proper 
dates, in the present volume, which therefore comprises all 
the matter printed by the Society previous to October, 1849, 
which is usually classed under the head of Proceedings, and 
only omits certain advertisements and lists of members and 
of donations. It is suggested that hereafter the several pam- 
phlets enumerated above be treated as separates, as is the 
custom with the reprints from the Proceedings since 1849. 

The original records from which this volume has been com- 
piled are all contained in the Society's Hbrary. They are as 
follows : 

Record Book of Society, 1812-1871, i vol. 

Journal of Sub-Council, 1815-1830, i vol. 

Records of Council, 1831-1907, i vol. ' 

Treasurer's Account Book, 1812-1849, i vol. 

Treasurer's Waste Book, 1814-1829, i vol. 

Treasurer's Ledger, 1 830-1 861, i vol. 

Donation Book, 1813-1829, i vol. 

Donation Book, 1830-1840, i vol. 

Donation Book, 1840-1851 (portfolio of loose sheets). 

Visitors' Record, 1832-1849, i vol. 

^ An Address by Rev. William Bentley on the fourth anniversary, October 23, 
1816, was first printed in 1875. 
'^ Reprinted 1894. 
» Reprinted 1868. 



X Introduction 

Catalogue of Members, i8 12-1829, i vol. 
Document file, 1812-1849. 
Correspondence file, 181 2-1849. 
Mss. of Addresses delivered before Society. 
C. C. Baldwin's Letter-Books, 1832-1835. 

In addition to the above records, the following printed 
sources have been of much assistance: the Diary of Isaiah 
Thomas, as printed in vols. "9 and 10 of the Transactions; the 
Diary of C. C. Baldwin, as printed in vol. 8 of the Transactions; 
and the files of Boston and Worcester newspapers. The last 
have been especially helpful, since they have suppUed reports 
of the Council and Librarian not to be found elsewhere. 

Search has been made in vain for the report of the sub-council 
on the state of the library, made October 23, 1816; for the 
reports of the treasurer made in October 182 1, October 1822, 
October 1844, and October 1848; and for the reports of the 
council made in October 1839 and May 1841. It is quite 
probable that the last two were pubhshed in some newspaper 
and the manuscripts never returned to the Society, which 
accounts for their disappearance from the files. It is possible, 
too, that some of the reports noted as missing may have been 
rendered orally. There is no record that any report was made 
by the Treasurer in 1815-16, 1818-20 and 1823-1830. The 
present volume is issued only in paper covers, that members 
and libraries may have it bound, if they so please, to match 
their sets of Proceedings. 

W. L. 



American Antiquarian Society 

PETITION TO THE LEGISLATURE OF 
MASSACHUSETTS 

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court 
assembled. 

The subscribers, influenced by a desire to contribute to the 
advancements of the Arts and Sciences, and to aid, by their 
individual, and united efforts in collecting, and preserving 
such materials, as may be useful in making their progress, 
not only in the United States, but in other parts of the Globe; 
and wishing also to assist the researches of the future his- 
torians of our country, respectfully represent to the Legis- 
lature, that in their opinion, the establishment of an Anti- 
quarian Society within this Commonwealth would conduce 
essentially to the attainment of these objects.^ At present, 
there is no public association for such purposes within the 
United States. The rapid progress of Science, and of the 
useful and ornamental arts in our Country may be ascribed, 
in a great degree, to the numerous, public institutions, origi- 
nated by patriotic individuals, but deriving their countenance 
and support from Legislative authority. Such a Society, as 

^ The entries in Isaiah Thomas's Diary regarding the establishment of the 
American Antiquarian Society are rather meagre. On January 13, 181 2, 
he records, "Proposed to the Rev. Dr. Bancroft and Dr. Oliver Fiske the 
establishment of a Society by the name of the Antiquarian Society." The 
entries as to the incorporation are as follows: Oct. 13, "Sent a Petition to the 
Gen. Court for an Act of Incorporation of an Antiquarian Society." Oct. 14, 
"The Petition was read and committed." Oct. 15, "Sat out for Boston in 
the Coachee with Levi at 6 o'Clock to attend to my Petition." Oct. 16, 
"Attended Gen. Court but could not get the Committee on my petition to- 
gether." Oct. 17, "Attended Gen. Court — but could not get Committee 
together." Oct. 19, "Attended at Gen. Court. Met the Committee to con- 
sider of my petition for an Antiquarian Society. They reported in its favor." 
"■Oct. 20, "I drew a bill, and presented it to the House — it had two readings 
this day." Oct. 21, "It had a third Reading & passed. Sent to the Senate 
and read." Oct. 22, "Read a second time in Senate & passed. Antiquarian 
Society incorporated. " (Thomas Diary, as printed in the Transactions, vol. 9, 
pp. 127, 162-164). 



2 American Antiquarian Society 

is now contemplated, as its objects are essentially distinct 
from any other in our Country, it is believed, may advan- 
tageously cooperate with, without in the sUghtest degree 
impairing the utility of, other institutions. Its immediate 
and peculiar design is to discover the antiquities of our own 
Continent, and by providing a fixed, and permanent place 
of deposit, to preserve such relics of American Antiquity as 
are portable, as well as to collect and preserve those of other 
parts of the Globe. By the long and successful labors of the 
College of Antiquaries in Ireland (probably the most ancient 
institution, now existing in the world) their historians have 
been enabled to trace the history of that Country to an 
earlier period than that of any other nation of Europe. The 
researches of a similar society in England, established at a 
later period, at times discouraged, but now aided and fostered 
by the patronage of the government, have not merely fur- 
nished food for curiosity, but have provided many valuable 
materials for the benefit of history, the improvement of 
science, and the advancement of the arts of life. Almost 
every nation indeed of the European world bears witness to 
the utiHty of similar institutions. To the enlightened Legis- 
lature of Massachusetts, the subscribers do not deem it 
necessary to exhibit, more in detail, the advantages, which 
may be expected from such an establishment within this 
Commonwealth. They ask for no other aid from the Com- 
monwealth, than the facilities, which, in the pursuit of their 
objects, may accrue from an act of incorporation. As an 
inducement to the grant of these privileges, they beg leave 
to state, that one of their number is, at this time, in possession 
of a valuable collection of books, obtained with great labor 
and expense, the value of which may be fairly estimated at 
about five thousand dollars, some of them more ancient than 
are to be found in any other part of our country, and all of 
which he intends to transfer to the proposed Society, should 
their project receive the sanction and encouragement of the 
Legislature. This grant, which is designed as the foundation 
of a superstructure to be hereafter erected, with such other 
conditions as may be reasonably expected, the subscribers 
beUeve will ensure the future growth and prosperity of the 
institution. As no injury can, at any rate be apprehended 
from such an experiment, even if it should prove unsuccessful, 
and as it may be productive of much public advantage, the 
petitioners flatter themselves, their project will not be dis- 



Act of Incorporation 3 

countenanced by the government of Massachusetts. They 
therefore respectfully pray, for leave to bring in a bill for the 
incorporation of themselves, and such persons as may here- 
after associate with them, into a society by the name of The 
American Antiquarian Society, with the privilege of holding 
real estate in perpetuity of the annual value of fifteen hundred 
dollars, and with such other privileges and immunities as are 
usually granted by acts of incorporation to other public 
societies established within this Commonwealth.^ 

Isaiah Thomas. 
Nath'l Paine. 
Wm. Paine. 
Levi Lincoln. 
Aaron Bancroft. 
Edw'd Bangs. 
Sec'ys Office ) A true copy of the petition on file in this 
Dec'r 3, 1812. ) office. 

Attest, Alden Bradford, Sec'y Com'th. 
A true Copy, 
Attest, 

Samuel M. Burnside, Recorcfg 
Sec'y. Amer. Antiq'n Society. 



ACT OF INCORPORATION 2 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

In the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and 
twelve. 

An Act to Incorporate the American Antiquarian Society 



Preamble. Whereas the collection and preservation of the 
antiquities of our country, and of curious and valuable pro- 
ductions in art and nature have a tendency to enlarge the 
sphere of human knowledge, aid the progress of science, to 

1 This petition, dated October, 191 2, is printed in vol. i of the Society's 
Transactions. A footnote states that "Application for an Act to incorporate 
this National Institution was made to the Legislature of Massachusetts, 
from a belief, that the Congress of the United States has not a constitutional 
power to grant Charters to pubUck Societies without the District of Columbia." 

^ Printed in Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 181 2, vol. 6, 
p. 142. 



4 American Antiquarian Society 

perpetuate the history of moral and political events, and to 
improve and instruct posterity, 

Therefore, 

Sec. I. Be it enacted by the Senate, and House of Repre- 
sentatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority 
of the same, that Isaiah Thomas, Levi Lincoln, Harrison G. 
Otis, Timothy Bigelow, Nathaniel Paine, Edward Bangs, 
Esqrs., John T. Kirkland, D.D., Aaron Bancroft, D.D., 
Jonathan H. Lyman, Elijah H. Mills, Elisha Hammond, 
Timothy Wihiams, Wilham D. Peck, John Lowell,^ Edmund 
Dwight, Eleazer James, Josiah Quincy, William S. Shaw, 
Francis Blake, Levi Lincoln, Jun'r, Sam'l M. Burnside and 
Benjamin Russell, Esqrs., Rev'd Thaddeus M. Harris, Red- 
ford Webster, Thomas Walcut, Ebenezer T. Andrews, Isaiah 
Thomas, Jun., William WeUs, and such others as may asso- 
ciate with them for the purposes aforesaid, be, and hereby 
are formed into, and constituted a Society, and body politic 
and corporate by the name of. The American Antiquarian 
Society, and that they, and their successors, and such other 
persons as shall be legally elected by them, shall be and con- 
tinue a body politic and corporate by that name forever. 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, that the members of said 
Society shall have power to elect a President, Vice-Presidents 
and such other officers as they may determine to be neces- 
sary; and that the said Society shall have one common seal, 
and the same may break, change and renew at pleasure; 
and that the said Society, by the name aforesaid, as a body 
politic and corporate may sue and be sued, prosecute and 
defend suits to final judgment and execution. 

* The following letter shows that Mr. Lowell's name was used without his 
consent and that he never was a member of the Society. 

Roxbury, Aug. 17, 1820. 
Sir 

I have this moment received yours of the 6th of June. Where it has 
been, I know not. I never was a member of the Antiquarian Society and am 
not entitled to a Diploma. My name was put into the Act without my leave, 
and to my .surprise, and I have never done an act to testify my assent to it. 

I always disapproved of the institution, because I thought the Historical 
Society quite enough for one State and that any diversion of funds or talents 
from that single object would be injurious. I am not, however, a member of 
that Society and should decline if elected, for I have no qualifications which 
entitle me to it, and I have always openly condemed the lavish and indis- 
criminate manner in which these privileges are bestowed with us. The Diploma 
is herewith returned. 

I have the honor to be, 

very respectfully y'r hble serv't, 

J. Lowell. 



Act oj Incorporation 5 

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, that the said Society shall 
have power to make orders and bye-laws for governing its 
members and property, not repugnant to the laws of this 
Commonwealth, and may expel, disfranchise or suspend any 
member, who, by misconduct shall be rendered unworthy. 

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, that said Society may, 
from time to time establish rules for electing officers and 
members, and also times and places for holding meetings, 
and shall be capable to take and hold real and personal 
estate, by gift, grant, devise or otherways, and the same, or 
any part thereof to alien and convey; provided that the 
annual income of any real estate by said Society holden shall 
never exceed the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, and that the 
personal estate thereof, exclusive of books, papers, and articles 
in the Museum of said Society shall never exceed the value of 
seven thousand dollars. 

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, that said Society may elect 
honorary members residing in, and without the limits of this 
Commonwealth; and that Isaiah Thomas, Esqr, here and 
hereby is authorized and empowered to notify and warn the 
first meeting of said Society, and that the said Society, when 
met, shall agree upon a method for calHng future meetings, 
and have power to adjourn from time to time, as may be 
found necessary. 

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, that the Library and 
Museum of said Society shall be kept in the town of Wor- 
cester, in the County of Worcester. 

In the House of Representatives Octo'r 23, 1812. This bill, having 
had three several readings, passed to be enacted. 

Timothy Bigelow, Speaker. 

In the Senate, Octo'r 24, 1812. This bill, having had two several 
readings, passed to be enacted. 

Sam'l Dana, President. 

OctW 24, 181 2 

Approved 

CALEB STRONG 

Sec'ys office ) A true Copy Alden Bradford, Sec'y of 
Nov. 2, 18 1 2 ) attest, Com'th. 

A true Copy, Attest, 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, Recor. Sec'y, 
A.A. S. 



6 American Antiquarian Society 

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES 

Advertisement for Calling the First Meeting op the 

A. A. S. 

Whereas, by an act of the Legislature of this Common- 
wealth, passed October 24, 181 2, Isaiah Thomas, Levi Lincoln, 
H. G. Otis, Timothy Bigelow, Nathaniel Paine and Edward 
Bangs, Esqrs; J. T. Kirkland, D.D., Aaron Bancroft, D.D., 
WilHam Paine, M.D., Jonathan H. Lyman, EHjah H. Mills, 
Ehsha Hammond, Timothy WiUiams, William D. Peck, John 
Lowell, Edmund Dwight, Eleazer James, Josiah Quincy, 
William S. Shaw, Francis Blake, Levi Lincoln, Jun'r, Sam'l M. 
Burnside and Benjamin Russell, Esqrs.; Rev. Thaddeus M. 
Harris, Redford Webster, Thomas Walcut, Ebenezer T. 
Andrews, WilHam Wells, and Isaiah Thomas, Jr. and such 
others as may associate with them for the purposes therein 
mentioned, were "formed into and constituted a Society, 
and body politic and corporate by the name of The American 
Antiquarian Society," for the purposes therein specified; — 
And whereas by the fifth section of said Act, the undersigned 
is "authorized and empowered to notify and warn the first 
meeting of said Society," therefore, in conformity thereto, 
he hereby notifies and warns each and every of the persons 
above named, to meet at the Exchange Coffee house in 
Boston, on Thursday the 19th day of November instant, at 
II o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to take such meas- 
ures as shall be necessary for organizing said Society, estab- 
lishing such rules and regulations as shall be deemed expedient, 
"agree upon a method for calling future meetings," and to 
act upon any other matter or thing, relating to the objects 
of said institution. 

Isaiah Thomas. 

Worcester, Novem'r 2, 181 2 

The foregoing is a true copy of the advertisement, pub- 
Hshed for calling the first meeting of the American 
Antiquarian Society; — * 
Attest, 

S. M. Burnside, Rec. Sec'y. 

^ This advertisement was printed in the Massachusetts Spy, Nov. 4, Nov. 1 1 
and Nov. 18, 1812; in the Independent Chronicle, Boston, Nov. 19, 1812; and 
in the Columbian Centinel, Boston, Nov. 7 and 14, 181 2. 



Meeting of November ip, 1812 



MEETING OF NOVEMBER 19, 1812 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society at the 
Exchange Coffee house 4n Boston on Thursday, Novem'r 19th, 
convened agreeably to the act of incorporation, 

Present 

Isaiah Thomas, Esqr. Rev. T. M. Harris. 

Rev'd J. T. KiRKLAND, D.D. Benj'n Russell, Esq. 

Edward Bangs, Esqr. Mr. E. T. Andrews. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. Doct. Redford Webster. 

Professor Wm. D. Peck. Isaiah Thomas, Jr. 

Isaiah Thomas, Esqr., was appointed chairman of the meet- 
ing, and Rev. Mr. Harris Secretary. Votes were then brought 
in for a President of the Society, and Isaiah Thomas, Esq., 
was chosen. Professor Wm. D. Peck was chosen Vice Presi- 
dent; the Rev. T. M. Harris, Corresponding Secretary and 
Sam'l M. Bumside, Esq. Recording Sec'y- 

Voted, that the President, Judge Bangs, Dr. Bancroft, 
Timothy Bigelow, Esqrs., and Professor Peck, be a com- 
mittee to draw up regulations and bye-laws for the Society, 
and be requested to report them the next meeting. 

Voted, that the President, Vice-President, Corresponding 
Secretary and Recording Secretary be Counsellors till the 
report of the committee. 

Voted, that whereas it appears, that the name of Doct. Wm. 
Paine of Worcester, who was one of the petitioners for the 
incorporation of this Society, has been, by some accident 
omitted in forming the bill, that he be now regularly admitted 
a member. 

The Society then voted that a nomination should be made 
of persons to be admitted as members under the regulations 
to be reported by the committee, and the following were 
named, viz. 

CoL. George Gibbs of Boston, nominated by Maj. Russell. 
Hon. Oliver Fiske of Worcester, by Rev. Mr. Harris. 

* The Exchange Coflfee House was situated in Congress Square. It was a 
building of seven stories, too large for the requirements of the time, and was a 
commercial failure. It was finished in 1808, destroyed by fire in 1818, rebuilt 
and used as a tavern until 1853, when it was torn down. The meetings of the 
American Antiquarian Society were held there from 1812 to 1818, and from 
1821 to 1836 (see note by B. T. Hill in Transactions, vol. 9, p. 406). 



8 American Antiquarian Society 

Rev. Jos'h McKean of Cambridge ) ^ j ^^ ^ 

DoCT. John Green of Worcester ) •' y -< 

Rev. Wm. Bentley of Salem, by Judge Bangs. 

Hon. Judge Davis of Boston, by Dr. Kirkland. 

Rev. Wm. Jenks of Bath, by Major Russell. 

Rev. Dr. Holmes of Cambridge, by Professor Peck. 

Rev. Dr. Morse of Charlestown, by Mr. Andrews. 

Then voted to adjourn this meeting to the first Wednesday 
in February next, to meet at the Exchange Coffee house in 
Boston at 3 o'Clock p.m. 

Attest, 

Thadd's M. Harris, Sec'y. 
A true copy of the proceedings of the first meeting as 
furnished by the Sec'y, the Rev'd Mr. Harris,^ 
Attest, 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, Rec. Sec'y. 



MEETING OF FEBRUARY 3, 1813. 

At a meeting of The American Antiquarian Society, holden 
at the Exchange Coffee house in Boston on Wednesday the 
third day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand, 
eight hundred and thirteen, by adjournment from the nine- 
teenth day of November, a.d., 181 2: — ^ 

The following gentlemen, w^ho were proposed at the open- 
ing of this meeting in November, 181 2, were balloted for 
and admitted members of this Society; to wit, 

CoL. George Gibbs of Boston. Hon. John Davis of Boston. 

Hon. Oliver Fiske of Worcester. Rev. Wm. Jenks of Bath. 

Rev. Joseph McKean of Cam- Rev. Dr. Holmes of Cambridge. 

bridge.* 

DocT. John Green of Worcester. Rev. Jedediah Morse of Charles- 
Rev. Wm. Bentley of Salem. town. 

Votes were then brought in for a 2d Vice-President, seven 
Counsellors, assistant recording Secretary, assistant corre- 

1 A brief notice of the business transacted was printed in the Massachusetts 
Spy, Worcester, Nov. 25, and in the Columbian Centinel, Boston, Nov. 25, 1812. 
^ Meeting advertised in Massachusetts Spy, Jan. 27, 1813. 
' Rev. Joseph McKean declined by letter, Feb. 18, 1813. 



^Counsellors. 



Meeting of February j, i8ij g 

spending Secretary, and Treasurer, when the following gentle- 
men were declared by the President to be duly elected, to 
wit, 

DocT. Wm. Paine of Worcester, 2d Vice President. 

Timothy Bigelow, Esq. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft. ^ 

Edward Bangs, Esq. | 

Col. George Gebbs. 

Rev. Wm. Bentley. 

Redford Webster. 

Benj'n Russell, Esq. 

Levi Lincoln, Jun'r, Esq., Treasurer. 

Eben'r T. Andrews, Assist. Record' g Sec'y. • 

Rev. Wm. Jenks, Assist. Correspond. Sec'y. 

The President, Isaiah Thomas, Esq'r, presented the Society 
with a large and valuable collection of books, estimated at 
$4000.00 after making the usual deduction of 20 per cent from 
the first appraised value; the said books being enumerated 
and described in a written Catalogue, presented therewith.^ 

Thereupon, Voted unanimously, that the thanks of the 
Society be presented to the President, for the valuable present, 
this day made by him to the Society. 

Voted that Levi Lincoln Jun'r, Esq., and Sam'l M. Burn- 
side be a committee to receive from the President a deed of 
conveyance of the books by him presented to the Society. 

Voted that the President be requested to retain the posses- 
sion of the books by him presented to the Society until a 
place of deposit shall have been provided for their reception. 

Voted, that the President, Levi Lincoln, Jr., Benjamin 
Russell, Elijah H. Mills, Esquires, and Mr. Ebenezer T. 
Andrews be a committee to consider and report upon the 
most eligible means for raising a fund for the benefit of this 
Society; and that they be requested to report as soon as may 
be. 

The committee appointed on the 19th of November last 
to draw up bye-laws and regulations for the Society reported 
the following, which were read by the Secretary, and accepted 
by the Society. 

^ This catalogue in the original manuscript is in the possession of the Society. 
It contains the following entry on the fly leaf: — "The following Catalogue of 
Books is presented to the American Antiquarian Society, to be the exclusive 
property of said Society to all intents and purposes so long as it shall continue 
a body corporate, pursuant to the provisions of this act of incorporation of 
said Society. Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, July 12, 181 2." The original deed 
of gift, dated Sept. 20, 1813, follows the catalogue of books. 



lo Ainerican Antiqiiarian Society 

Laws of the American Antiquarian Society 

Art. I. There shall be a President and two Vice-Presi- 
dents. It shall be the duty of the President, and in his 
absence of one of the Vice-Presidents to preside in the meet- 
ings and regulate the debates of the Society and Council; 
to call meetings of the Council, and extraordinary meetings 
of the Society by advice of Council. The President or pre- 
siding officer shall vote in Council, and also have a casting 
vote. The Vice-Presidents shall ex officio be members of the 
Council. 

Art. 2. There shall be seven Counsellors exclusive of 
the President and Vice-Presidents; any four of the whole 
number shall constitute a quorum. It shall be the duty of 
the Counsellors to direct the corresponding Secretaries in the 
performance of their duty ; to present to the Society for their 
acceptance, such regulations and bye-laws, as from time to 
time shall be thought expedient; to receive donations, and 
with the President, to purchase, sell or lease for the benefit 
of the Society, real or personal estate; to draw orders on the 
Treasury for necessary monies ; and in general to manage the 
prudentials of the Society. It shall be the duty of the Council 
to enquire concerning the character of persons hving out of 
the Commonwealth proper to be elected honorary members, 
particularly in Spanish America. 

Art. 3. There shall be one recording Secretary, and one 
assistant recording Secretary; and two corresponding Secre- 
taries. The recording Secretary shall be the keeper of the 
seal of the Society; it shall be his duty to attend all meet- 
ings of the Society and Council, and to make and keep records 
of all their proceedings, and he shall keep on file all literary 
papers belonging to the Society, under the direction of the 
Council. It shall be the duty of the corresponding Secre- 
taries to receive and read all communications made to the 
Society, and to manage, under the direction of the Council, 
all the correspondence of the Society. 

Art. 4. There shall be a Treasurer, who shall give such 
security as the President and Council shall require for the 
faithful performance of his trust. It shall be his duty to 
receive and keep all monies and evidences of property, belong- 
ing to the Society; to pay out to the order of the President 
and Council; to keep a record of his receipts and payments; 
exhibit the same and settle with a committee, which shall be 



Meeting of February j, 1813 11 

annually appointed for this purpose; and he shall put the 
money of the Society out to interest under the direction of the 
Council. 

Art. 5. There shall be a Librarian and Cabinet keeper, 
who shall give bonds to the satisfaction of the President and 
Council for the faithful performance of his trust; he shall 
receive, and have in his custody all books, papers, productions 
of nature and works of art, the property of the Society. 
These he shall arrange in classes and register in a book, with 
a proper description of each article, with the donor's name, 
when the same shall be a present. No articles shall ever, on 
any occasion be loaned or taken from the Museum; nor shall 
any book, or other article be borrowed from the Hbrary, 
except by a vote of the Council, and then the loan of such 
article shall be recorded, and a receipt given therefor by the 
borrower, engaging to return the same in four weeks or pay 
a forfeiture, such as by a vote of the Council shall be affixed. 

Art. 6. There shall annually be three meetings of the 
Society: viz. one in Boston on the twenty-second day of 
December, and when the same shall fall on a Sabbath, then 
the day after; one in Boston on the first Wednesday in June, 
and one in Worcester on the Wednesday next after the fourth 
Tuesday of September, at such hours and places as shall be 
notified by the Secretary. At the annual meeting in Boston 
in December shall be chosen by ballot all the officers of the 
Society to serve during the following year, and until others 
are chosen. At this meeting, a public oration shall be delivered 
by some person to be appointed by the Council. 

Art. 7. At any meeting of the Society, any member may 
propose a candidate for admission, by writing the name of 
the candidate with his own name in a book, to be kept by the 
recording Secretary for that purpose; and at the next meet- 
ing, such candidate may be balloted for, and on obtaining 
two- thirds of the votes given in, shall be constituted a member. 
. Art. 8. Each member shall annually pay into the hands 
of the Treasurer, at the meeting in December, two dollars 
towards a fund; and every person, who shall neglect to pay 
the aimual tax, and shall sufifer himself to be in arrear for 
three annual taxes after having been called upon by the 
Treasurer, in person, or by written order, shall be considered 
as having abdicated his interest in the Society, and no longer 
a member. 

Art. 9. All meetings, standing or special, shall be noti- 



12 American Antiquarian Society 

fied by the recording Secretary under the direction of the 
President and Council, in one newspaper, published in Boston 
and one in Worcester, fourteen days previously to the day of 
meeting; in which notification, the hour, and place of the 
meeting shall be designated. 

Art. io. In case of the death, resignation, incapacity, or 
removal out of the State of either of the Secretaries, or the 
Treasurer or Librarian, the Council shall take charge of the 
official books, papers, and effects, belonging to the vacated 
offices, giving receipts for the same, which books, etc., they 
may deliver to some person, whom they may appoint to fill 
the office until the next meeting of the Society, when there 
shall be a new choice.^ 

Isaiah Thomas, 
Pr. order. 
Voted, that this meeting be dissolved, 
Attest, 

Sam'l M. BuRNsroE, Sec^y. 



MEETING OF JUNE 2, 1813 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, holden 
at the Exchange Coffee house in Boston, on Wednesday the 
2d day of June 1813, 

The following gentlemen, nominated at the last meeting 
were balloted for and admitted, viz., Dr. David Hunt of 
Northampton, Rev. Sam'l Cary of Boston, Rev. Eben'r 
Fitch of WUliams College, Hon. James Winthrop of Cam- 
bridge, Isaac Goodwin, Esq., of Sterling, Thomas L. Winthrop 
of Boston, Samuel J. Prescott of Boston, Frederick W. Paine 
of Worcester, Hon. John Wheelock, President of Dartmouth 
College, James Hugh McCuUoch of Baltimore, Noah Webster, 
Jr., of Amherst, Dr. David Ramsay of Charleston, South 
Carohna, Rev. Timothy Alden of Elizabeth Town, N. J., 
Wm. Sheldon of Jamaica, Rev. Joseph Sumner of Shrewsbury, 
Professor Sidney Willard, Cambridge, Rev. John L. Abbot of 
Boston, Nath'l G. Snelhng of Boston. 

Voted, that the sixth article of the Bye Laws^ be so far 

1 These laws were printed in "An Account of the American Antiquarian 
Society," 1813. 

2 The word "Bye-Laws" should read "Laws." The By-Laws were not 
adopted until Oct. 23, 1813. 



Meeting of September zg, i8ij 13 

altered as that the oration contemplated therein to be de- 
livered on the 2 2d of December, be delivered on the 23d of 
October, the day on which America was discovered by Colum- 
bus. 

Voted, that this meeting be dissolved. 
Attest, 

Eben'r T. Andrews, Assist' t Sec'y. 



MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 29, 1813 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, holden, 
pursuant to the Laws of said Society, at the dwelling house 
of Col. Reuben Sikes,^ Innholder in Worcester, on Wednesday 
the 29th day of September, a.d., 1813, at 6 o'Clock p.m. — 

The following candidates, proposed at the last meeting, 
were balloted for and admitted, viz. 

Elias Hasket Derby, Esq., of Salem. 

William Goddard, Esq., of Providence, R. I. 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., of Worcester. 

William Wilkinson, Esq., of Providence, R. I. 

His Excellency Wm. Jones " " 

Rev. Dr. Joseph Lyman of Hatfield. "^ 

Rev. Sam'l Willard of Deerfield. >Massachu's. 

Lewis Strong, Esq., of Northampton. ) 

Professor Benj'n Silliman, Yale College. 

Rev. Dr. Dwight, Pres't " 

Rev. Jesse Appleton, D.D., Pres't Bowdoin College. 

Jacob Gourgas, Esq. 

Rev. Dr. Sam'l Miller, of New York. 

John Lathrop, Jun'r, Esq., of Boston. 

On motion of Tim'y Bigelow, Esq., Voted, that a committee 
be appointed to draw up a regular account of the origin and 
nature of this Society, with a detailed statement of its objects, 
for the purpose of publication, together with the Bye-Laws, 
and an account of proceedings hitherto.^ 

Voted, that the President, Dr. Wm. Paine, and Dr. Aaron 
Bancroft be the committee. 

Voted, that the committee aforesaid be directed to revise 

1 An account of "Sikes's Tavern," now the Exchange Hotel, is given by 
Mr. B. T. Hill in Vol. 9, p. 185, of the Society's Transactions. 

* This was printed in November, 1813, and was the first publication of 
the Society. It was also printed in Vol i of the Society's Transactions and is 
here reprinted after the records of this meeting. 



14 American Antiqiianan Society 

tKe Bye-Laws, and report such amendments, alterations and 
additions therein, as they think expedient. 

Voted, that the 5th Article of the Bye-Laws ^ be so altered 
as to give the Council the authority to affix the forfeiture for 
neglecting to return a book or article, borrowed from the 
Library or Museum. 

Voted, that this meeting be dissolved. 
Attest, 

Sam'l M. Burnside, Rec. Sec'y. 



AN ACCOUNT 

OF THE 

AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

Report of Committee. 

The great benefits arising to the civilized world from as- 
sociations of individuals for promoting knowledge, industry, 
or virtue, are universally acknowledged. It is an obvious 
truth, that men, without regard to nation, sect, or party, by 
united exertions in one general pursuit, may effect more in 
a few years, than could be accomplished, individually, in 
ages. They are so constituted by nature, that " human ac- 
tions, and the events which befal human beings, have more 
powerful influence than any other objects, to engage and 
fix their attention." We cannot obtain a knowledge of those, 
who are to come after us, nor are we certain what will be the 
events of future times; as it is in our power, so it should be 
our duty, to bestow on posterity that, which they cannot 
give to us, but which they may enlarge and improve, and 
transmit to those, who shall succeed them. — It is but pay- 
ing a debt we owe to our forefathers. 

From combinations of this kind, the old continents, within 
the last century and an half, have received and diffused 
more light and useful information in the arts and sciences, 
and in the natural, civil and religious histor}"^ of the habitable 
globe, than had been exhibited to mankind for thousands of 
preceding years. 

The first society of scientific men among the moderns of 
which history gives us any certain information, was estab- 
lished near the close of the eighth century, by Charlemagne, 

' Should read "Laws." 



An Account of the American Antiquarian Society 15 

at his imperial palace in France, by the recommendation of 
Alcuinus, one of the most learned men of the age. This 
society in time was productive of many others; few, how- 
ever, appeared, which were of great advantage to the pubHck, 
or gained a permanent estabHshment, till the middle of the 
seventeenth century. Many hterary and scientific institu- 
tions were then formed, and afterwards greatly increased 
and spread through the several quarters of the globe. We 
will take notice of that class only of those societies, which had 
the same object in view, as the one of which we are members. 
Irish historians have asserted, that " there was an ancient 
college of antiquaries erected in Ireland by Ollamh Fodhla, 
one of its kings, seven hundred years before Christ, for the 
purpose of composing a history of that country;" and to 
this, say they, "it is owing, that the history and antiquities 
of this kingdom may be traced back beyond that of most 
other nations." But the first society of Antiquaries, of 
which we have any authentic information, is that which origi- 
nated in England in 1572, under the auspices of Archbishop 
Parker, Camden, Sir Robert Cotton, and others. Although 
it was not incorporated, its reputation gradually increased 
until the reign of James I, who, in turbulent times, " fearing 
it might canvass the secret transactions of his government, 
suppressed it." It was revived in the year 1717. From this 
time the importance of the society increased, and in 1751, it 
was incorporated by the name of " The President, Council 
and Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries" in England. " It 
is now in a very flourishing condition, consisting of many 
learned and ingenious men of the nobility, gentry and clergy, 
whose business, as members, is to discover the antiquities 
of their own, as well as of other nations." Their council, 
says Mr. Rees, " consists of twenty one persons, ten of whom 
are annually changed; the election of members is by ballot, 
by a certificate signed by three or more fellows being pre- 
viously exhibited for six ordinary successive meetings, except 
in the case of peers, members of the privy council and judges, 
who may be proposed by a single member and balloted for 
the same day; and the choice is determined by a majority 
of two thirds. Every member pays an admission fee of five 
guineas and two guineas a year; or, as an equivalent, a sum 
of twenty one guineas. They have weekly meetings. This 
society began to publish its discoveries in 1770, under the 
title of Archaeologia. " 



i6 American Antiquarian Society 

An institution similar to that of the Antiquarian Society 
in England, and for like purposes, was founded in Scotland 
in 1780, and received the royal charter in 1803. 

There is a society of Antiquaries at Upsal in Sweden, which 
owes its rise to queen Christina, but its estabhshment to 
her successor, Charles Gustavus; its design is to collect and 
illustrate the antiquities of that country^ and the northen 
languages. Another was instituted at Copenhagen, in Den- 
mark, in 1742; its immediate object is to make researches 
into, and explain the antiquities and history of that country. 
It is patronized by the king. — An Academy of Antiquities 
exists at Cortona, in Italy, the members of which are very 
respectable, numerous, and not confined to that country. 
It was founded for the study, &c. of the Hetrurian Antiqui- 
ties; the chief officer is called Lucumon, by which name the 
ancient govemours of Italy are said to have been distin- 
guished. 

There are in Europe many other similar institutions; all 
of which, having proper funds, have been very useful. Many 
more for want of funds were of short duration. 

An institution of this kind was formed at Calcutta in the 
East Indies, called the Asiatic Society, by Sir William Jones, 
in 1784; the objects of which are the antiquities, history, 
arts, and literature of the continent of Asia. 

Among the numerous societies formed in the United States 
for the promotion of Kterature, the useful and fine arts, and 
other valuable purposes, it appeared that one more might be 
added, which could also be truly beneficial, not only to the 
present, but particularly to future generations — a society 
not confined to local purposes — not intended for the par- 
ticular advantage of any one state or section of the union, or 
for the benefit of a few individuals — one whose members may 
be found in every part of our western continent and its adja- 
cent islands, and who are citizens of all parts of this quarter 
of the world. 

Should it be asked, what are the intended objects of this 
society? — We will answer in the words of Sir William Jones 
to the members of the Asiatic Society, ''Man and Nature — 
whatever is, or has been performed by the one, or produced 
by the other." — "Human knowledge," says he, " has been 
elegantly analysed according to the three great faculties of 
the mind. Memory, Reason and Imagination, which we con- 
stantly find employed in arranging and retaining, comparing 



An Account of the American Antiquarian Society 17 

and distinguishing, combining and diversifying, the ideas 
which we receive through our senses, or acquire by reflection ; 
hence the three main branches of Learning are History, Science 
and Art." 

The chief objects of the enquiries and researches of this 
society will be American Antiquities, natural, artificial and 
literary; not, however, excluding those of other countries. 
It must be acknowledged that the study of Antiquity offers 
to the curious and inquisitive a large field for research, for 
sublime reflection, and for amusement. — Those who make 
enquiry, and those who make collections in this branch of 
science, '' furnish the historian with his best materials, while 
he distinguishes from truth the fictions of a bold invention, 
and ascertains the credibility of facts; and to the philoso- 
pher he presents a faithful source of ingenious speculation, 
while he points out to him the way of thinking, and the man- 
ners of men, under all the varieties of aspect in which they 
have appeared." 

As all things, which are in their nature durable, if preserved 
from casualty and the ravages of time, in a course of years 
will become antique, it will be also an object of this society to 
deposit, from time to time, such modem productions as will 
denote to those who succeed us, the progress of Hterature, the 
arts, manners, customs and discoveries in our time with accu- 
racy. 

Thus by an attention to these objects, which the society 
hope to promote by the exertion of its members residing in 
various parts of this vast continent, the utiHty of the institu- 
tion will speedily be reahzed, and it may in time vie with those 
of a similar kind in Europe, which are now so justly celebrated. 
Each individual of the Society, we persuade ourselves, will 
imbibe a belief, that its reputation, in a great degree depends 
on his individual efforts ; and will feel an interest in collecting 
and forwarding to the Librarian, the Secretaries, or to any 
officer of the Institution, such antiquities of our country, 
whether of nature or of art, as may be portable, and which he 
can obtain; and authentic accounts of such as cannot be 
transported; with such articles of modern date, as are curious 
and interesting, and will tend to aid the purposes of the estab- 
lishment. — Justice will be done to the donor — his name will 
live on the records. 

Among the articles of deposit, books of every description, 
including pamphlets and magazines, especially those which 



1 8 American Antiquarian Society 

were early printed either in South or in North America; files 
of Newspapers of former times, or of the present day, are par- 
ticularly desirable — as are specimens, with written accounts 
respecting them, of fossils, handicrafts of the Aborigines, &c. 
Manuscripts, ancient and modern, on interesting subjects, 
particularly those which give accounts of remarkable events, 
discoveries, or the description of any part of the con- 
tinent, or the islaitds in the American, seas; maps, charts, 
&c. 

The decline as well as the rise of nations is in the course of 
nature — Hke causes will produce like effects — and, in some 
distant period, a decKne may be the state of our country. A 
depository like this, may not only retard the ravages of time, 
but preserve from other causes of destruction, many precious 
relics of antiquity, many specimens of the work of nature, 
and those of modem art, which once lost could never be re- 
stored. 

For the better preservation from the destruction so often 
experienced in large towns and cities by fire, as well as from 
the ravages of an enemy, to which seaports in particular are 
so much exposed in times of war, it is universally agreed, 
that for a place of deposit for articles intended to be preserved 
for ages, and of which many, if destroyed, or carried away, 
could never be replaced by others of the hke kind, an inland 
situation is to be preferred ; this consideration alone was judged 
sufficient for placing the Library and Museum of this Society 
forty miles distant from the nearest branch of the sea, in the 
town of Worcester, Massachusetts, on the great road from 
all the southern and western states to Boston, the capital 
of New England. 

It is almost needless to observe, that a society of this kind 
cannot be supported with any degree of respectability or 
usefulness without funds — donations, legacies, contributions, 
and royal patronage, are the support of those in Europe, and 
have raised them to a state of eminence — and, it is not 
doubted that there are persons in America, who are as public 
spirited as those in Europe, by whose aid this society will be 
enabled to pursue those researches, so desirable, into the antiq- 
uities of our country — to make valuable collections of them, 
and of other articles proper for this institution, and to deposit 
them in a suitable, permanent building, which it is intended 
shall soon be erected for their safe keeping; where they may 
at all times be found, and be, not only pleasing, but useful to 



Council Meeting of October i6, i8ij 19 

the members of historical, philosophical, and, perhaps, of other 
societies, as well as to individuals. 

ISALVH THOMAS, per order. 
Worcester, October, 1813. 



COUNCIL MEETING OF OCTOBER 16, 1813 

At a meeting of the Council ^ of the American Antiquarian 
Society, holden at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, and 
by adjournment at the House of Eben'r T. Andrews, October 
i6th A.D., 1813. Present, Vice-President Peck, Rev. Mr. 
Bentley, Col. Geo. Gibbs and Benjamin Russell, Esq. 

Voted, that the Vice-President, Wm. D. Peck, with Col. Geo. 
Gibbs be a committee to request the use of the Stone ChapeP 
for the purpose of holding the anniversary meeting of the 
Society on Saturday the 23d inst., when a public discourse 
is to be delivered before them. 

Voted, that the same gentlemen be a committee to wait on 
the clergymen of the Stone Chapel, and to request them to 
officiate at the meeting of the Society on the 23d inst., so 
far as to introduce the exercises with a prayer, and lessons 
adapted to the occasion. 

Voted, that pubHc notice be given by advertisement in the 
Centinel, that the pubHc exercises will commence at the 
Stone Chapel on Saturday, the 23d inst., at 11 o'clock a.m., 
when there will be a prayer, lessons, and an address by the 
Rev. Mr. Jenks, and that Major Benj'n Russell be a committee 
to attend to this business. 

Voted, that Major Benj'n Russell be requested to arrange 
the business, preparatory to the public exercises on the 23d 
inst., and the Council, having full confidence in his care and 
attention, and his quahfication for this service, will depend 
entirely upon him for the arrangements of the day. 

Voted, that the Council meet on Saturday, the 23d inst., 
at half past 9 o'clock, a.m., at Concert Hall.^ 

E. T. Andrews, Assisting R. Sec. 

^ This is the only record of a Council meeting recorded previous to the 
adoption of the revised Laws in January, 1815, after which the immediate 
concerns of the Society were transacted until 183 1 by the Sub-Council, whose 
records are entered in a separate volume. 

2 King's Chapel. 

' Concert Hall was on the southerly corner of Hanover and Tremont streets. 
It was torn down in 1860. 



20 American Antiquarian Society 

A true copy of the record of the Council, as furnished by 
Mr. E. T. Andrews, 

Attest, 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, R. Sec. 
N. B. On Saturday the 23 of October, 1813, the Council 
met pursuant to their vote of the i6th of said Novem'r and 
adjourned without day ; 

Attest, 

S. M. BURNSIDE, R. S. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1813 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, holden 
at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Saturday the 
23d day of October, a.d., 1813/ agreeably to a vote of said 
Society, passed on the 2d day of June last, to celebrate their 
first Anniversary, being the same day of the same month, 
on which Columbus first discovered America, a.d., 1492; 
the President, Isaiah Thomas, Esq., in the Chair .^ 

1 The following advertisement of this meeting was printed in the Columbian 
Centinel, Oct. 23, 1813: 

American Antiquarian Society 

The first anniversary of the Society incorporated for the purpose of collect- 
ing and preserving the Antiquities of the Western World, will be holden THIS 
DAY. After the Society, have transacted the usual business, they will pro- 
ceed (about II o'clock) to the Stone Chapel, where a Discourse will be delivered 
by the Rev. Professor Jenks, of Bowdoin College; and other exercises will be 
performed. 

Antiquarian Society 

,^*,^To accommodate the Members of this Society, who reside out of Boston, 
the time of meeting at the Exchange-Coffee-House THIS DAY, is fixed at 
TEN o'clock in the forenoon, instead of two in the afternoon, as was at first 
intended. Those Members who have been notified to meet at two o'clock, are 
therefore desired to attend at the place above mentioned at Ten. The ser- 
vices at the Chapel will begin at Eleven o'clock. 

Pews are appropriated for the Ladies who may honor the Society with 
attendance. 

The report of a Contribution at Church is unfounded. None is expected. 

N. B. The Council of the Society meet at the Exchange Coffee-House at 
9 o'clock in the morning. 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, Secretary. 
Boston, Oct. 22, 1813. 

2 The original minutes of this meeting have furnished the names of the 
members present. 



f Vice Presidents. 



Counsellors. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8ij 21 

Present. 
Isaiah Thomas. 
Professor Wm. D. Peck. 
Dr. Wm. Paine. 
Hon. Timothy Bigelow. 
Judge Edw. Bangs. 
Rev. Wm. Bentley. 
Col. George Gibbs. 
Dr. Redford Webster. 
Benj'n Russell, Esq. 
Rev. Professor Jenks, Corresponding Sec'y. 
S. M. Burn SIDE, Esq., Recording Sec'y. 
E. T. AKDKEWS.fAssistant R. Sec'y. 
Rev. Dr. Kirkland, President Ear. Col. 
Timothy Williams, Esq. 
Wm. Wells. 
Isaiah Thomas, Jun'r. 
Rev. Dr. Holmes. 
Rev. Dr. Morse. 
Rev. Sam'l Gary. 
Hon. James Winthrop. 
Sam'l J. Prescott, Esq. 
Professor Sidney Willard. 
Nath'l G. Snelling. 
John Lathrop, Jun'r. Esq., and others. 

The follov^^ing gentlemen, nominated at the last meeting, 
were balloted for and admitted as members,^ viz.;" — 

Thomas L. Halsey, Esq., of Providence. 
Thomas L. Halsey, Jr., of Providence. 
Nicholas Brown, Esq., of Providence. 
Sam'l W. Bridgham of Providence. 

Rev. Wm. Nash of West Boylston. 
Thomas W. Ward, Esq., of Shrewsbury. 
Hon. Theophilus Parsons of Boston. 
Hon. Dwight Foster of Brookfield. 
Hon. Josiah Bartlett of Gharlestown. 
Hon. Elijah Brigham of Westborough. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow of Leominster. 
Rev. Francis Brown of North Yarmouth. 
Simon Elliot, Esq., of Newton. 
Aaron Davis, Esq., of Roxbury. 
Abraham Biglow, Esq., of Cambridge. 
Hon. Wm. Winthrop, Esq., of Cambridge. 
All the above of Massachusetts. 
Professor Roswell Shurtleff of Dart'th College, N. H. 
Professor Eben'r Adams of D. College. 

' Pardon Bowen, of Providence, was apparently elected a member at this 
meeting, although his name is not entered in the Record Book, ffis letter of 
acceptance refers to his having been elected Oct. 23, 18 13, and he was later 
included in the membership roll. 



22 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, that a committee of three be chosen whose exclusive 
duty it shall be to nominate, from time to time, candidates 
for admission into the Society as members ;^ 

Voted, that the President, Timothy Bigelow, and Professor 
Peck be the committee. 

Voted, that as the hour has arrived, appointed for the 
pubhc exercises of the day, the Society will now proceed 
in procession to the Stone Chapel to attend them. 

After the pubhc exercises of the Chapel, the Society being 
again convened in the Exchange Coffee house; 

Voted unanimously, that the thanks of this Society be 
presented to the Rev. Professor Jenks for his ingenious and 
learned address this day delivered before the Society, and 
that he be requested to furnish a copy thereof, for pubHca- 
tion.^ 

Voted, that the President and Vice-Presidents be a com- 
mittee for this purpose; and to pubhsh the address, in case 
a copy be granted, together with the Bye-Laws and an expose 
of the nature and objects of the Society for the use of the 
members. 

Voted, that two persons be now chosen to prepare orations 
for the next Anniversary; that the second person chosen 
shall perform at the next Anniversary only in the event of 
the inabiUty of the first; and in case the person first chosen 
shall be able to perform on the next Anniversary, then the 
second person chosen shall be considered as engaged for the 
Anniversary next succeeding. The ballots being collected 
and counted. Rev. Dr. A. Holmes was chosen first orator, 
and Rev. Dr. J. Morse the second. 

The committee appointed at the last meeting to draw up 
a regular account of the nature and objects of this Society 
etc., made a report which was r%ad and accepted. The same 

^ The vote as given in the original minutes is as follows : — 
"Voted, that the yth article of the bye-laws be so far altered, as that all 
nominations for members shall hereafter be submitted to a committee of three 
for their approbation, and if approved by said committee the names of the 
candidates with the names of the members who proposed candidates, shall 
then be entered on the Book of Nominations, and the candidates may be 
balloted for at the first meeting of the society after. " 

The following additional entry appears in the minutes referred to, "At this 
meeting the Rev. Dr. Morse presented to the Society forty-one pieces of silver 
coin and one of copper." 

2 The address was published November, 1813 and is here reprinted after 
the records of this meeting. A graphic account of the meeting and of Professor 
Jenks's address appeared in the National Mgis for Nov. 3, 1813. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1813 23 

committee reported the following additional Bye-Laws which 
were likewise read and accepted.^ 

1 [8]. There shall be a temporary place of deposit in 
Boston, and in such other places as the Council shall here- 
after direct, for the conveniency of those who may be dis- 
posed to present to the Society, any articles for its Library 
or Museum. Every article, so deposited, shall, as soon after 
as circumstances will permit, be forwarded to the Library 
and Museum in Worcester.^ 

2 [4]. The Secretary shall record, in a book for that pur- 
pose, the names of the members, and the time of their admis- 
sion. 

3 [2]. Every member, who shall advance twenty dollars 
to the funds, shall be excused from the annual payment of 
two dollars. 

4 [7]. Every deed, to which the common seal of the Society 
is affixed, shall be passed, and sealed in Council, signed by 
the President, and attested by the Sec'ty. 

5 [3]. Every new member shall be notified of his election 
by a printed letter, signed by the Recording Sec'y. 

5 1 5]. All books, and other articles, belonging to the 
Society, shall be appraised, and the price of each article shall 
be mentioned in the Catalogue. 

6 [6]. A correct copy of the Catalogue of books and other 
articles shall be made out by the Librarian and Cabinet 
keeper, or by a committee chosen by the Society for this 
purpose, which copy shall be kept by the President for the 
time being; and as additions are made to the Library and 
Museum, they shall be entered on the Catalogue and on the 
copy thereof. 

7 [i]. The ballots for the election of officers, and for the 
admission of members, shall be collected by a committee 
chosen by nomination, who shall assort and count the votes, 
and make report thereof to the presiding officer, and he shall 
declare the result to the Society. 

On motion of the Rev. Dr. Morse, Voted, that Dr. J. 

^ In the original draft and as printed in November, 1813, these By-Laws 
are eight in number and are in different order, as noted by the numbers in 
brackets. 

* The following is in the original draft and was printed at the end of the 
By-Laws in 1813: 

"In conformity to this article, a temporary place of deposit is provided in 
Boston, at No. 6 Marlborough Street, where anything left for the Society will 
be received, and carefully attended to by I. Thomas, Jun. " 



24 American Antiquarian Society 

Morse, Col. Geo. Gibbs, and Rev. Dr. Holmes be a com- 
mittee, for the purpose of devising, and carrying into effect 
(without expense to the Society) measures for obtaining 
accurate surveys of all the ancient mounds, whether forti- 
fications or otherwise, in the Western part of the United 
States, and of collecting, on the spot, all the facts and informa- 
tion, which may throw light on those interesting monuments 
of American Antiquity. 

Voted, that Major Benj'n Russell and the Rev'd Mr. Gary 
be a committee to compensate the organist, who performed 
before the Society this day, at the Stone Chapel and also the 
sexton for his attendance and services during the exercises at 
Church, and that the committee be authorized to draw on 
the treasurer for the amount. 

Voted, that this meeting be adjourned without day. 
Attest, 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, Rec. Sec. 

N. B. The following are the exercises performed at the 
Stone Chapel, commemorative of the event, which the Society 
convened to celebrate.^ Viz. 

Voluntary on the organ. 

Prayer, by the Rev'd Mr. Gary. 

Psalm 145, from the Chapel Church collection sung. 
Tune, Old Hundred. 

Benediction. 

Voluntary on the organ. 

Address, by the Rev'd Professor Jenks. 

' In the original draft of the meeting, the following is given concerning 
the exercises in the chapel : — 

"The Com'ee chosen at the meeting in June last, to engage some member 
to deliver an address in public to the Society on the day of its first anniversary 
made choice of the Rev. William Jenks, professor of in Bowdoin 

College, for that purpose, who accepted. 

Voted to walk in procession to King's Chapel and attend to the address of 
Professor Jenks. 

At n o'clock the society moved in procession to the Chapel, where a respect- 
able audience were assembled. The exercises were as follows: — 
Voluntary on the Organ. 
Prayer by the Rev. Mr. Cary. 

Psalm 145 from the Chapel Church Collection — Sung. 
Lessons rd by the Rev. Mr. Cary. 
Psalm From C. C. Col. — Sung. 
Address by the Rev. Professor Jenks. 

Psalm from the same collection — Sung — Tune Old Hundred. 
Benediction. 
Voluntary on the Organ. 



Address by Rev. William Jenks 25 



ADDRESS BY REV. WILLIAM JENKS 

Gentlemen of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The acceptance of your appointment to address you on 
this occasion, may well seem to demand an apology. I shall 
however decline to offer it, and trust your candour and the 
indulgence of this audience, in proceeding to comply with 
my duty, as a member of your respected body, by obeying 
your desires. 

In the choice of your anniversary, gentlemen, you have 
seen fit to fix the attention of this Society and the pubHck 
on events worthy to be com.memorated by all civiHzed America. 
Your name embraces a continent. The first view of land be- 
longing to the New World distinguishes this day in the an- 
nals of time.^ 

But you have not, I presume, selected this day for the 
purpose of hearing repeated the story of the Discoverer. In- 
teresting and instructive as is his story, almost every cir- 
cimistance of it has happily become famihar even to our youth. 
In their earhest years, our countrymen of these United States 
associate the memory of the illustrious but long neglected 
citizen of Genoa, with the deep impressions made on their 
hearts, by the virtues of their poUtical Father. In the latter 
they contemplate an example of national confidence un- 
bounded yet secure, of pubHck honours lost in "the wild 
majesty of private life," ^ of power used with moderation and 
resigned with dignity; in the former, talents, merit and con- 
scious superiority to the men of the age meekly, yet with 
firmness, submitting to disappointments, bearing the ingrati- 
tude of a penurious and jealous king, and, more than all, the 
undeserved success of haughty, worthless courtiers. 

Poetry, as well as History, has consecrated the achieve- 
ments of Columbus.^ But we must leave, for the present, 

^ "A light, seen by Columbus at ten in the night of the eleventh of Octo- 
"ber, was viewed as the harbinger of the wished for land; and early the next 
"morning (Friday, Oct. 12th) land was distinctly seen." Dr. Holmes' Amer. 
Annals, vol. i. p. 4. In the Gregorian Calendar, or New Style, October 23d 
corresponds to this memorable day. 

2 Akenside. 

' See the splendid national work of Barlow. 



26 American Antiquarian Society 

to History and Poetry the pleasing task of dwelling on indi- 
vidual characters. The appropriate researches of the An- 
tiquary aim at objects less exposed to ordinary notice, yet 
illustrative often of the interests of nations. 

The concerns of the present moment generally engross the 
attention of the greater number of mankind. "All things 
are full of labour; man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied 
with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." ^ Multiphed 
and various, the affairs of business and pursuits of pleasure 
seem to require the whole man. But in every community 
will be found some, who are not satisfied with the contem- 
plation of present objects only. They delight to trace the 
progress of events, and investigate their causes. They look 
back on manners, men and things, with a curious, scrutini- 
zing eye. And not unfrequently does the Antiquary return 
from his excursions laden with invaluable spoils of time to 
swell the treasures of science and art. 

To a philosophick mind such employment is pleasing. The 
state of society, which we behold, has resulted from the ac- 
cumulated labours of many generations. Repeated efforts 
and experiments in legislation have led mankind, by gradual 
advances, to ascertain and appreciate their mutual rights 
and duties, and, of course, the mutual bearing and dependence 
of each class and individual in society. The comforts, con- 
veniences and luxuries of life, at the present day so varied, 
lead to reflections on the progressive acquisitions of human 
research, enterprise, skill and industry. Even in nations 
highly civiHzed, History can point us to periods, wherein the 
eye is arrested by the gloom of savage indolence on the one 
hand, or the barbarism of savage rapacity on the other. To 
an observing traveller the face of the earth now exhibits an 
interesting variety of stages. He may see the human nature 
degraded to its lowest debasement in some portions of the 
earth, and trace the effects of art and industry, as his eye 
glances from tribe to tribe, and nation to nation, in the vast 
family of man. The native of New Holland, the rude moun- 
taineer of Burmah, the wretched islander of Andaman,^ the 
shivering Samoiede and disgusting Hottentot are almost in- 
finitely removed from the state of refinement exhibited in 
Europeans and their descendents. Yet it improved the 
nourishment of the first population of Greece, to indicate the 

I Eccl. i. 8. 

^ Symmes's Embassy to Ava. 



Address by Rev. William Jenks 27 

beech-nut;^ in Germany, Gaul and Britain^ human sacri- 
fices were not unfrequent, and, at her origin, imperial Rome ^ 
herself owed much of her greatness to outlaws of the surround- 
ing country. 

Permit me then, gentlemen, to invite your attention, and 
that of this audience, to the general design of this Society, 
and a consideration of the utility and importance of pursuits 
denominated Antiquarian. This will necessarily, indeed, open 
to us a wider field, than we can now survey with minuteness, 
or than can be cultivated, without time and labour. And per- 
haps a liberty of diffuse remark may best accord with the 
present occasion, in which the Society celebrates for the first 
time in pubHck its auspicious anniversary. 

Every thing regarding the Revelation, which the Creator 
and Govemour of the universe has been pleased to make of 
his holy will and conduct, is interesting to us. Infidels have 
been found, who attempt to invalidate its proofs, or deny its 
authenticity. They have attacked the historical narrations 
of the scriptures, and with great zeal endeavoured to enlist 
in their service, the records, whether fabulous, interpolated, 
supposititious, or genuine, of ancient nations. They have de- 
nied the existence of certain facts, on the evidence of which 
much of the clearness, with which our holy religion is exhibited 
as divine, may seem to depend. Representations of external 
nature made in the Bible have been rediculed, its supposed 
philosophy held up to scorn, its chronology discarded, and, to 
say nothing of the manner, in which its recorded miracles have 
been treated, the history of the Israelites, the style and manner 
of composition, and the allusions to Gentile nations have 
met obloquy and reproach.^ 

That there are difficulties attending the adjustment of 
sacred chronology, none, who are versed in studies of that 
nature, will deny. But these difficulties have served to call 
forth the acuteness and learning of laborious investigators. 
And though a Bolingbroke may affirm, that he has "a, 
thorough contempt for all the researches into antiquity, for 
all the systems of chronology and history, that we owe to 
the immense labours of a Scaliger, a Bochart, a Petavius^ an 

* Pausanias, lib. viii. p. 599. (Ed. Kuhn.) 

2 Taciti Germ. & Caesar de bello Gall. i. 6. 
» Liv. I. I. 8. 

* See Leland's "View of Deistical Writers," and his "Reflections on Lord 
Bolingbroke's Letters on the study and use of History." 



28 American Antiquarian Society 

Usher ^ or even a Marsha?n;^' yet *'to endeavour to digest 
the history of mankind, and of the principal events that have 
happened in the world, in a regular series, to mark the rise 
and fall of cities and empires, to compare and connect the 
histories of different countries and nations, sacred history and 
profane; and, in order to this, to lay together the scattered 
hints and fragments of different ages, is, notwithstanding 
this degrading description of it, a noble employment, an em- 
ployment that even a Sir Isaac Newton judged not to be un- 
worthy of his great genius." ^ 

Whatever learning elucidates the sacred records, repays 
amply the labour of acquisition. Hence they, who have appre- 
ciated justly the value of Divine Truth, have been anxiously 
sedulous to investigate all parts of histor>' and philosophy 
connected with it; and the student of biblical Kterature is 
now richly furnished from their collected treasures. 

The high antiquity assigned to the history of the Egyp- 
tians has been a favourite theme with infidels. Among them 
Dupuis and Volney have considered fifteen or seventeen 
thousand years,^ as the most probable period of their arrange- 
ment of the signs of the Zodiack. But this pretended antiq- 
uity beyond the accounts of Moses is amply disproved by 
the critical investigations of learned Antiquaries. Greece re- 
ceived her mythology from Egypt, blended, as it was, with 
Phoenician rites, and Rome, in a considerable measure, from 
Greece. Illustrations, therefore, of Egyptian theology, in- 
cluding that of neighbouring countries of the East, apply 
with much force to the elucidation of the popular systems of 
religion in those celebrated nations. And the whole has 
tended to estabhsh the great facts of a deluge, the repeopling 
of the earth from a single family, and a subsequent compul- 
sory dispersion. 

In these studies no man, perhaps, has done more for the 
cause of truth, than the celebrated Bryant, a name ever to 
be mentioned by the Antiquary with respect and veneration. 
In his great work, "the Analysis of Ancient Mythology," he 
has undertaken "to divest it of every foreign and unmeaning 
ornament, and to display the truth in its native simplicity; 
to show that all the rites and mysteries of the Gentiles were 
only so many memorials of their principal ancestors, and of 
the great occurrences, to which they had been witnesses" — 

' Leland, Reflections, &c. 

2 Priestley's Remarks on Dupuis' work. 



Address by Rev. William Jenks 29 

that "they all related to the history of the first ages, and to 
the same events, which are recorded by Moses." ^ 

While the frost work of Pagan fiction in Europe was thus 
dissolving before the rays of science, the recesses of Hindoo 
superstition, rendered tenfold more gloomy by Brahminic 
arts, were discovered and explored. In this survey the 

" Accomplished Jones — whose hand to every art 

" Could unknown charms and nameless grace impart," ^ 

is regarded justly, as bearing away the palm from all com- 
petitors. He has identified the gods of Greece, Italy, and 
India, taken off the veil of mysterious secrecy from ancient 
rites, reduced to historick possibiHty the boasted, but "end- 
less genealogies" of Hindustan, curtailed the fabulous antiq- 
uity of China, and shown the world, that the great lawgiver 
of Israel was a historian and geographer as accurate, as he 
was a legislator divinely inspired. 

Bold indeed must be the infidel capable of reading and re- 
flection, who, after weighing the elaborate disquisitions of 
such eminent scholars, would attack, on the ground these 
champions occupy, the authenticity of the scriptures of the 
Jews. Are we not rather convinced, to use the words of one, 
who has compared the "Institutions of Moses with those of 
the Hindoos,"^ that, "it has been by means of this one de- 
spised nation (for Jesus the founder of the Christian religion 
was of it") as concerning thejlesh,^ "that the knowledge of the 
one true God has been preserved and propagated in the world 
to this very day" — that "all nations that have not been di- 
rectly or indirectly instructed by them are idolaters" — and 
that "it is to revelation only, and not to any exertion of hu- 
man reason, that we are indebted for such great and impor- 
tant light." 

If already so much has been done to aid the cause of truth, 
by the comparison of ancient profane history with the Sacred 
Scriptures, we may hope that whatever obscurity yet remains 
will vanish, as the investigations of learning are pursued with 
steady, persevering caution. 

But Sir William Jones and the venerated Bryant are 
only distinguished from a host of illustrious votaries of 
recondite learning. There has, in fact, never been wanting, 

1 Preface, cited by Holwell. Myth. Diet. 

* Grant's "Poem on the restoration of learning in the East." 

' Dr. Priestley, p. 86 of his "Comparison." 

^ Rom. ix. 5. 



30 American Antiquarian Society 

since history has been written, a taste and inclination to 
search out, preserve and transmit the discoverable traces of 
ancient knowledge. Even Moses, the sacred instrument of 
the providence of GOD in leading Isreal to the promised in- 
heritance, and founding their commonwealth by Divine leg- 
islation, stops at times his hallowed narrative to sketch its 
remnants.^ Valuable fragments of Chaldsean, Phoenician and 
Egyptian histor}^ have been preserved by Josephus and Euse- 
Bius, those valued Antiquaries, whose toil has smoothed the 
path of succeeding historians. Homer too has cast Kght on 
the origin and progress of nations ; and the amiable Plutarch 
assists the enquirer by his learned dissertations on ordinary 
manners, reUgious superstitions, and general antiquities. 

Miscellaneous collections almost innumerable have also 
been made by individuals in ancient and modern times. 
Athen^us and Gellius, Pliny and ^ll\n have gained 
celebrity by this employment of their time, and rescued several 
valuable facts and names from obKvion^ — while the deep 
and extensive erudition of Varro, Dionysius, Pausanl\s, 
Ptolemy and Nonnus cast a strong and steady light on the 
subjects of their notice. 

Among the modems we can hardly name a respectable 
historian or critick of weight, who has not felt the .obligation 
to pay a marked regard to the study of antiquities. Indeed 
some knowledge of antiquities is indispensable to the historian, 
if not to enable him to describe with accuracy the subjects 
of his record, yet at least to form a sound judgment of their 
character and importance. 

But I fear, lest the patience of this respected audience 
may not accompany the speaker, should he attempt to re- 
view, though briefly, the branches of labour in this depart- 
ment of science. Yet why should he distrust it? For in 
which of the cities of America have such pursuits met more 
attention and patronage, than in this? He will not forget 
the solid and various learning of the illustrious Mathers, 
the accurate and laborious researches of the classick Belknap, 
nor the beloved name of Eliot, his early patron, and lamented 
literary friend and guide. 

* Instances often occur, as Numb. xiii. 22. Deut. ii. 20 — 23, iii. 9, &c. 
* Yet "VixSre fortes ante Agamemnona 
"Multi; sed omnes illacrymabiles 
"Urgentur, ignotique longa 
"Nocte, carent quia vate sacro." 

HoR. Carm. I. iv. Od. 9. 



Address by Rev. William Jenks 31 

I have not attempted to define antiquities, for they belong 
to almost every art and science; and they, who have culti- 
vated any art or science with attachment and dihgence, may 
be often benefited by the history of its progress. 

In the important sciences, for instance, of legislation, juris- 
prudence and statisticks, we have already seen in part the 
essential aid to be acquired, from perusing the remains of 
ancient knowledge and experiment. The first formation of 
states, the sources of wealth and power, the origin of laws, 
their adaptation to the character and situation of the com- 
munity, the result of this adaptation,^ and the various 
changes of manners and government induced by circum- 
stances; all these, as they are of high interest to the legis- 
lator, have found able and faithful observers, whose les- 
sons, deduced from the happy or distressing experience of 
ages more or less remote, are the golden rules of the sagacious 
statesman. 

We might proceed with almost every subject, that oc- 
cupies the attention of mankind. Poetry has its history and 
antiquities. The nature and progress of language has em- 
ployed much curious speculation, and is still, and will long re- 
main a fruitful theme of critical remark. Mathematics, 
geography, natural and experimental philosophy, agriculture, 
commerce, and ''the art that embalms all arts," have had 
their stages of advancement, which inquisitive observers have 
delighted to record. Physiology is traced with interest from 
its fudest to its most cultivated state, from its stem to its 
branches; and as its flourishing shoots are observed to mul- 
tiply and expand, the pleasing fruit is expected to nourish 
and prolong human existence, and its leaf to be "for the 
healing of the nations."^ 

The history of the Church of God under the Jewish and 
Christian dispensations, as it has occupied the pens of in- 
numerable writers, derives elucidation greatly from judicious 
antiquarian labour. 

In all these branches it would be invidious to name only 
the few, who can find a place in this address; yet must we not 
omit, in addition to those, who have been mentioned, the in- 
defatigable Grotius, the learned Selden, Hottinger, 
DIHerbelot, Dupin and Cumberland. In another branch 

* — "inde tibi, tuaeque reipublicae, quod imitere capias; inde foedum 
inceptu, foedum exitu, quod vites." Lrv. Praef. 

* Rev. ixii. 2. 



32 American Antiquarian Society 

we must distinguish Camden, Stukeley, Ducange, Spel- 
MAN, DuGDALE, Sheringham and Barrington; still further, 
Goguet, DeGuignes, Pelloutier, Caylus, Vallancey, Wil- 
FORD and Maurice, nor pass by the immense labours of 
Gronovius, Muratori, Gruter, and Montfaucon. 

If we except, however, the Jesuits, that once wealthy and 
powerful association, and some monastic orders, especially 
the Benedictines, few bodies have encouraged such pursuits, 
and several of the industrious Antiquaries, we have named, 
were private scholars. Universities indeed, and other pub- 
lick literary institutions, have assisted such inquirers occa- 
sionally, but associations of men for purposes professedly lit- 
erary are the invaluable privilege of times comparatively 
modem. The Societies formed under royal patronage in 
London, Paris, Berhn, Petersburgh, and other cities of Europe, 
have greatly advanced the progress of science, and by the 
pubHcation of select essays on subjects maturely examined 
introduced a precision and caution, which cannot but be 
favourable. At the same time the Antiquarian Societies of 
London and Edinburgh, with others embracing the same de- 
sign, have brought before the publick a mass of valuable 
ancient topography, many curious remains of art, and in- 
teresting views of former population and manners. 

The taste for such pursuits, which arose at the resuscita- 
tion of liberal learning, and has increased in Europe to the 
present times, accompanied, as it now is, with bibhographick 
literature, has crossed the Atlantick. I do not say it has 
lately crossed for the first time, since, probably, there has been 
no period of the history of our European settlements desti- 
tute of those, who have directed their attention to these 
branches of enquiry. 

The preceding remarks, gentlemen, have been offered 
mostly, as introductory to a consideration of the special de- 
sign and objects of the American Antiquarian Society. If 
I have been successful in describing the value of researches 
into antiquity in general, and the interest excited by them in 
the minds of many of the first and ripest scholars of ancient 
and modern times, I flatter myself we shall contemplate with 
increased regard the province appropriated to ourselves. 
With the stale objections to such pursuits, arising more, per- 
haps, from indolence or overweening self esteem, than from 
sober conviction, although it be acknowledged that many of 
the apparently grave and learned have been egregious trifiers, 



Address by Rev. William Jenks 33 

neither this audience, nor he, who addresses it, has any con- 
cern. 

Prevalent and successful, as the taste has been in Europe, 
for antiquarian research, it has also been observable and strik- 
ing here, and apparently increases. Already has it done 
much. A catalogue of the books, tracts, and documents of 
original value, which have been produced among us, must 
be considered honorary to our country. "The Historical 
Society of Massachusetts" has led the way in the encourage- 
ment of this taste, and in supplying means for its gratifica- 
tion. The liberal arrangements of its library cannot but be 
beneficial to those, who happily reside in its vicinity, while 
its publications have been uninterrupted, interesting and sat- 
isfactory. Much was effected and is still doing by the re- 
spected Societies instituted previously in Pennsylvania and 
Massachusetts. But their designs embrace a wider range. 
It is a subject of felicitation to our country, that, in the in- 
crease of institutions of a literary and scientifick nature, there 
yet appears room for another association, which shall still 
more appropriately than either of those, which before were 
instituted, devote itself to the acquisition, description and 
preservation of American Antiquities. The multiplying and 
securing of copies of ancient documents, their preservation 
in the interiour, less exposed to ordinary hazards, and an ad- 
ditional interest excited in a greater number of the com- 
munity — ■ some such considerations, as these, gentlemen, 
were probably motives for forming this Society. May its 
success answer your most lively expectations, and the best 
wishes of its friends, 

A few of the objects, which present themselves to an Ameri- 
can Antiquary, shall now be noticed. 

The ancient Indian nations of our continent demand our 
first attention. 

Here an extensive field of enquiry opens at once. The 
present condition of the native Indian tribes indicates a de- 
terioration in numbers, spirit and skill, if we survey them 
even by the light of those narratives, which have been left 
us by our ancestors, and those, who were first acquainted with 
this extensive country. 

America was discovered at a period, when the human mind, 
rousing from its long slumbers, began to exert itself anew in 
the splendid career of science. The invention of printing, as 
it offered a surprising facility in the multiplication of books, 



34 American Antiquarian Society 

left their writers more leisure to increase their original pro- 
ductions. Commerce had begun to expand the conceptions of 
men, to enlarge their enjoyments, and multiply their wants, 
as well as the means of supply. The stores of ancient litera- 
ture were unlocked; the precious manuscripts, which had 
survived the desolations of barbarism, and lain in the secrecy 
and silence of the cloister, were brought forth, committed to 
the press and distributed among the learned. The ruin of 
the empire of the East, by the final subjection of Constanti- 
nople to the Turks, ^ had expelled from that capital many 
Greeks of eminent accompHshments, who become the in- 
structors of Italy. Science revived under the liberal patron- 
age of the Princely Merchant of Florence,^ and as his example 
allured others, a consequence was, that Italy furnished to the 
States of Europe not only the best statesmen, and most ac- 
complished scholars, but also the most skilful navigators, and 
most adventurous seamen.^ 

No sooner was the discovery effected, than it began to be 
enquired whence the new race of men originated — an en- 
quiry, which has continued to employ the conjectures, and 
to animate the investigations of men of leisure and learning 
from that time to the present. Much, therefore, has been 
written on the subject, and many hypotheses formed.* In- 
terest gave an edge to these speculations at that period; for 
not only was it contended who first discovered America, but 
the honour of peopling it has been assigned successively to 
almost every nation; it being then imagined, that some right 
in the soil would accrue to the nation, from which the popula- 
tion flowed.^ 

Wedded to systems, and not always disposed to undergo 
the labour necessary to ascertain their truth, European writers 
have contented themselves too frequently with vague reports 
and slight resemblances. Hence their reasoning has been de- 
ceptive, and their results false. Yet the misrepresentations, 
which have been made by De Pauw and Buffon, and from 

^ A. D. 1453- 

2 Cosmo de' Medici. 

' Dr. Belknap observes, "It is remarkable that the three great European 
kingdoms, Spain, England and France, made use of three Italians to conduct 
their discoveries: Columbus, a Genoese; Cabot, a Venetian; and Verazzani, a 
Florentine." Am. Biog. vol. I. p. 159. 

* See Robertson's Hist, of Amer. and HofeNius de Gentium Amer. origine. 

^ Dr. Barton supposes the principle to have operated in the account so 
often copied from Dr. Powell's Hist, of Wales of the emigration of Madoc. 
Med. and Phys. Journal. 



Address by Rev. William Jenks 35 

which even Robertson is not freed, have happily excited 
able replies, from mature examination of facts; and in the 
"Notes on Virginia," as well as the Abbe Clavigero's exten- 
sive and elaborate "History of Mexico," the assertions of these 
writers, which are most glaringly inconsistent, are found re- 
futed. 

The exertions of the Society formed by the advice and under 
the presidency of 'Sir William Jones, of whose learned la- 
bours the "Asiatick Researches" will ever be esteemed a 
most honourable monument, have made us acquainted with 
many curious facts in the history of the nations of the east, 
which may tend to elucidate the great question of American 
population. But possibly traces of the daring enterprise and 
naval skill of the Cuthite or Amonian Family,^ whose 
achievements form, in the opinion of Mr. Bryant, so great 
a portion of ancient mythology, may yet be discovered on 
the western, as well as eastern coasts of the American conti- 
nent. 

How barren then soever the theme of Indian antiquities 
may appear at a superficial glance, because they present so 
few of those means of remote investigation, which are com- 
mon on the old continent, as books, and monuments for re- 
cording important events, or commemorating distinguished 
characters; yet it may be found, that et5TTiological enquiry, 
cautiously and diHgently pursued, with a careful investiga- 
tion of religious rites and ceremonies, and the prevaiHng 
manners, will connect the history of our Indian population 
with the ancient achievements of the early descendants of 
Noah. Already, in fact, has this course terminated here, 
in the result of the unremitting perseverance of our distin- 
guished countryman, Dr. Barton, whose "New Views of the 
American Indians" have led him to the same conclusions, to 
which enquiries of a similar nature had conducted Mr. Bry- 
ant and Sir William Jones. 

To collect complete vocabularies of the Indian tongues, 
to ascertain the boundaries of their ancient governments, and 
the progress they made in the few arts, which were practised 
among them; to obtain a knowledge of their numbers and 
circumstances at the various epochs of their progress or de- 
clension, are objects of laudable curiosity. 

Connected with this are two subjects especially, which 

^ See especially Clarke's "Progress of Maritime Discovery," Introd. 
vol. I. Edwards' West Indies, and Belknap's Biog. close of Introd. Dissert. 



36 American Antiqimrian Society 

seem of much higher import, than the gratification of even 
laudable curiosity. Our Puritan Ancestors thought much 
and expended time, pains and money, in the truly christian 
work of evangeHsing the natives. In the single state of Mas- 
sachusetts, toward the close of the 17th century, more than 
thirty congregations of praying Indians met for publick wor- 
ship,^ and more than twenty Indian teachers^ were the 
precious fruits to Christ of the "Pilgrims of Leyden," and 
their pious associates. How these churches have declined — 
what number of native Indians are now to be regarded, as 
Christian brethren; and how far the effects of Christianity 
are happily discernible among any, may well be esteemed fit 
subjects of enquiry. 

The other is this. A language of signs has been discovered, 
simple, easy, and intelligible, and supposed to savour of 
Asiatick origin.^ By means of this, it is asserted, that, "Al- 
most all Indian nations living between the Mississippi and 
the Western American ocean" are able to hold communica- 
tion, "although their respective oral tongues are frequently 
unknown to each other." What a treasure would be this 
language of signs to a Christian Missionary among those 
nations ! 

A second general subject of enquiry is the Western Mounds 
of Earth. — These may in fact be considered as belonging to 
the preceding division. But as they are the only striking 
evidence we have of ancient population, and the progress of 
arts in remote times, they demand a distinct notice. Their 
use is variously conjectured. Ordinarily enclosures of this 
kind have been termed fortifications, and contrivances for de- 
fence have been supposed to be ascertained. Others have 
considered them the remains of ancient temples, and have 
discovered the altar and other appendages. But a third 
opinion is that of the Rev. Bishop Madison, as the result of 
personal observation, that these enclosures (for of the conical 
tumuli there is generally but one opinion) were only lines or 
fences erected for the purposes of agriculture.'* Possibly this 
question may find a decision in the wilds of Siberia; but a 

^ NEAtE. Dr. C. Mather's India Christ. 

* Noticed by Leusden, in dedicating his Hebrew Psalter to President 
Mather. 

* See a paper on this subject, communicated by William Dunbar, Esq. 
of the Mississ. Ter. in Part I. vol. VI. of the "Transactions of the Amer. Phi- 
losoph. Society," Philadelphia. 

* See Communi. vol. VI. "Transac. of Amer. Philoso. Soc." Philadel. 



Address by Rev. William Jenks 37 

new interest has of late been given to the subject by informa- 
tion respecting a tribe of Welsh Indians/ to whom the build- 
ing of these enclosures and circular mounds is assigned by 
other Indians themselves. Few subjects connected with 
American antiquities have excited more curiosity than this, 
and few deserve a more critical attention. 

A third branch of enquiry offers itself in the early European 
Settlements. — To ascertain by whom, at what time, and for 
what purpose settlements were made, and how long, if now 
deserted, they were held; or their subsequent progress, if re- 
tained, belongs, in all its branches of Spanish, French, English, 
Dutch, Portuguese, Danish and Swedish population, to the 
history and antiquities of our Continent; as do also the fossil 
remains of animated nature, or primitive art. 

I shall but name a fourth branch, consisting of Civil Antiq- 
uities. — This head of enquiry I propose to refer to the Euro- 
pean accessions of population in America. At the time when 
the colonising of the southern portion of this vast continent 
commenced, Europe was in slavish subjection to the man- 
dates of Rome. But for some time before the northern por- 
tion received inhabitants from England, Henry VIII. had 
shaken off the yoke. Our own ancestors were mostly dis- 
senters from the Church establishment in the reign of James, 
his sister's grandson. At that period the rights of subjects 
began to be discussed, but no Stuart would willingly per- 
mit the discussion of the duties of kings. 

Would we form then a just opinion of the feelings, views 
and actions of the Fathers of New England, we must attend 
minutely to their history. To judge of their treatment of 
Indians, for instance, it is necessary to ascertain their specu- 
lations and views concerning them. In all their conduct, we 
should make our conclusions with reference to their times, 
their habits of life, and the progress of society in their memo- 
rable age. 

If in this manner we study their history, permit me to re- 
mark, we shall not only be impressed with a strong sense of 
their resolution, enterprise and piety; but also find our own 
views and feelings purified by converse with ancient times 
and ancient manners. An accurate observer of the world 
has suggested, that the man, who thinks little of his ancestors, 
will be careless of his posterity. Would we appreciate our 
privileges, we must contemplate their cost. If it is important 
^ Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana. 



38 American Antiquarian Society 

to transmit them to posterity, we must be strongly impressed 
with their value; for the more we value them, the greater 
will be our exertions to hand them down unimpaired to the 
coming age. But their worth can never be known, until we 
form a comparison between our institutions, rights and ad- 
vantages and those of other times and other people. This 
comparison will also tend to repress the inflations of individual 
and national vanity; for while it shows the origin and ad- 
vancement of the principles of national greatness, by heighten- 
ing our respect for solid worth, it may contribute much to 
imbue our own minds with those qualities, which have stood 
the test of time. 

To animate our labours, we will then look forward to the 
period, when that which is determined in the councils of the 
Almighty, shall be brought into effect by His gracious Provi- 
dence, for human happiness and divine honour. Viewing in 
the discoveries of Revelation the designs of GOD, we antici- 
pate the glory of the ^'latter day.'' Then, as we will hope, by 
Antiquarian researches only, shall be discovered traces of 
impure morals, and mistaken principles, vicious practices, 
diseased bodies, and violent animosities, gloomy superstition 
and lax indifference, disregard of a Saviour, and careless neg- 
lect of the salvation of fellow men. 

You will therefore, gentlemen, unite with me in the fervent 
wish, that the world may continue to grow wise, until it ex- 
hibit for ages a resemblance of heaven. For ourselves, and 
for our cotemporaries, may it be the effort, privilege and de- 
light of life, to contribute somewhat at least toward such a 
consummation. 



MEETING OF DECEMBER 22, 1813 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, holden 
at Boston on Wednesday the 2 2d day of December, a.d., 
1813: — 

The Society proceeded to the choice of officers for the ensu- 
ing year. The officers of the Society were unanimously 
reelected, excepting the Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jr., treasurer, 
and Ebenezer T. Andrews, Esq., assistant recording Secre- 
tary. These gentlemen declined a reelection, and Mr. Isaiah 
Thomas, Jr., was chosen treasurer, and John Lathrop, Jr., 
Esq., assistant recording Secretary in their stead. 



Meeting of December 22, i8ij 39 

Voted, That the President be requested to take charge of 
the Library and Cabinet during the ensuing year. Hon. 
Levi Lincoln, Jr., the late treasurer, exhibited a statement 
of his accounts, and Dr. William Paine was chosen a committee 
to settle with the late treasurer, and to receive the papers and 
money belonging to the Society from the late treasurer, and 
to transfer them to Mr. Isaiah Thomas, Jr., the treasurer now 
elected.^ 

On motion of Hon. Timothy Bigelow, Voted, That the sum 

of forty dollars be paid to the Rev'd WilHam Jenks for the 

ouble and expense incurred by him on his journey to 

^ This first Treasurer's account is not in the files, but is here presented as it 
appears in the Treasurer's account book, which has been preserved. With the 
exception of the account presented in October, 1814, no detailed report of the 
Treasurer's receipts and expenses was preserved in the files until the Society came 
into possession of Mr. Thomas' legacy in 1831. After that time most of the 
reports have been preserved and are printed in this volume. 

Levi Lincoln, Jr. Treasurer 

October 181 2 to October 1813 

Dr. 
To Cash of J. H. Lyman, Esq., 2.00 — B. Russell, 2.00 

— Rev. Dr. Bancroft, 2.00 $6 . 00 

" S. M. Burnside, 2.00 — E. T. Andrews, 2.00 

— E. Mills, 200 — I. Thomas, Esq. 2.00 8.00 
" E. Dwight, Esq., 2.00 — L. Lincoln, jr., 2.00 

— N. G. SneUing, 2.00 — Rev. A. Holmes, 

2.00 8. 00 

" Rev. W. Jenks, 2.00 — Rev. J. Sumner, 2.00 

— J. M'Culloch, 2.00 — Rev. J. L. Abbott, 

2.00 8.00 

" E. Fitch, 2.00 — Rev. W. Bentley, 2.00 — Rev. 

J. Morse, 2.00 — G. Gibbs, 2.00 8.00 

" S. W. Bridgham, Esq., 2.00 — W. Winthrop 

2.00 — Mr. Goddard, 2.00 — I. Thomas, Jr. 

2.00 8 . 00 

'' D. Hunt, 2.00 — Dr. W. Paine, 2.00 — Thomas 

L. Halsey, 20.00 24 . 00 

$70.00 
Contra Credit 
Septem'r 29 

By Cash pd Col. Sikes, for use of Room $0.50 

" I. Thomas, Jr., for Martin Smith, Sexton 10.00 

" I. Thomas, Jr., for Organist 5. 00 $15. 50 

I. Thomas, Jr., as successor to the oflice of 

Treasurer, being balance on hand 54 ■ 5° 

$70.00 



40 American Antiquarian Society 

Boston to deliver his ingenious and learned discourse before 
the Society on the 23d of October last. 

Voted, that the Bye-laws of the Society be so far altered, 
that the Anniversary of the Society shall be celebrated on 
the 23d of October, and that on that day the officers of the 
Society shall be elected to serve untiU other officers are chosen. 

On motion of S. J. Prescott, Esq., Voted, That the recording 
Secretary furnish, at the expense of the Society, every mem- 
ber with a printed copy of the Constitution, Laws, and Cata- 
logue of members of this Society, and also wdth a copy of the 
address, dehvered at the first Anniversary by the Rev. Mr. 
Jenks; and also that all persons, who may hereafter be 
elected members, be, in Hke manner, furnished with a copy 
of said Laws, Constitution &c., and until the further order of 
this Society, with a copy of said address, and all addresses 
hereafter published by order of said Society. 

The following gentlemen were unanimously elected mem- 
bers of the Society; — 

Hon. William Ellery of Newport, Rhode Island. 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins, Milton, Massa. 

Mr. Daniel Staniford, Boston, Massa. 

Hon. John Adams, LL.D., Quincy, Do. 

Rev. John Lathrop, D.D., Boston, Do. 

Oliver Bray, Esq., Portland, Maine. 

Silas Dinsmore, Esq., Agent U. S. A. &c., &c. 

Rev. Isaac Smith, Boston. 

Peter O. Thacher, Esq., Do. 

Abraham R. Thompson, M.D., Charlestown. 

Hon. Dudley A. Tyng, Cambridge, Massa. 

MosES FiSKE, Esq., White Plains, Tennessee. 

Hon. Hugh Williamson, LL.D., New York. 

Col. Benj'n Hawkins, Agent U. S. A., &c., &c. 

Capt. Hugh McCall, Georgia. 

Alden Bradford, Esq., Sec'y Com'th, Boston (Declined). 

Charles Thompson, Esq., LL.D., late Sec'y U. S. A. 

Benj'n Vaughan, Esq., LL.D., Hallowell. 

Hon. John Phillips, Pres't of Sen., Mass., Boston. 

Hon. David Humphreys, Boston. 

Mr. William Bigelow, Boston. 

Hon. Egbert Benson, LL.D., New York. 

His Honor William Phillips, Lt. Gov'r, Mass., Boston. 

Rev. Manassah Cutler, LL.D., Hamilton, Mass. 

Nathan'l Lord, 3d., Esq., Ipswich, Massachusetts. 

Hon. James Hillhouse. New Haven, Connect. 

His Excellency John Cotton Smith, Gov'r. of Connect. 

Epes Sargent, Esq., Boston. 

Hon. Bushrod Washington, Mt. Vernon, Virgin'a. 

Rev. Elijah Parish, D.D., Byefield, Massa. 



Meeting of June i, 1814 41 

Hon. Winthrop Sargent, Esq., Natchez. 

Rev. Dan'l Clark Saunders, D.D., Burlington, Vt. 

Hon. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charleston, S. C. 

His Excellency Caleb Strong, Gov'r of Mass. Northampton. 

Hon. William Cranch, Washington, Dist. of Colum'a. 

Hon. Elijah Paine, LL.D., Williamstown, Verm't. 

Hon. John Marshall, C.J., U. S. A., Washington. 

Hon. William Stedman, Worcester, Massa. 

A true copy of proceedings 22 Decm'r, 1813. 

John Lathrop, Jr., AssH R. Sec'y. 
A true copy, as furnished by Mr. Lathrop. 

Attest, 
S. M. BunNSiDE, Rec. Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JUNE i, 1814 

At a regular meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, 
holden at the Exchange Coffee house in Boston on the first 
day of June a.d., 1814: at 3 o'clock p.m. On motion of 
Sam'l J. Fresco tt, Esq., Voted, unanimously that the 8th 
article of the Laws of said Society be amended, and stand as 
follows:^ 

Each member, residing within this Commonwealth, shall 
annually pay to the treasurer of said Society, at the meet- 
ing in October, two dollars towards a fund for the necessary 
contingent expenses of the Society; — and any such member, 
who shall neglect to pay such annual tax, and shall suffer 
himself to be in arrear for three annual taxes, after having 
been called upon by the treasurer in person, or by written 
order, shall be considered as having abdicated his interest 
in the Society, and no longer a member. 

Voted, that the Secretary notify the members, residing out 
of the Commonwealth of the above amendment in the 8th 
article of the Laws of the Society as soon as may be. 

The following gentlemen, approved by the committee of 
nomination, were elected: 

James T. B. Watt, Jamaica. 

Hon. Thomas Jefferson, LL.D., Monticello, Virginia. 

Hon. DeWitt Clinton, New York. 

John Pintard, Esq., New York. 

Hon. John Jay, LL.D., New York. 

Peter Augustus Jay, Esq., New York. 

* This amendment was due to a suggestion made by Rev. Timothy Alden 
in a letter to Isaiah Thomas, Apr. 14, 1814. 



42 American Antiquarian Society 

His Excellency Dan'l Tompkins, Gov'r New York. 

Hon. Brockholst Livingston, New York. 

Hon. Oliver Wolcott, Hartford, Conn. 

Robert Fulton, Esq., New York. 

John McKesson, Esq., New York. 

Rev. Wm. Harris, Pres't Colum'a College, New York. 

Henry Gahn, Esq., Swedish Consul, New York. 

Rev. John M. Mason, D.D., Provost, Colum'a Coll., N. Y. 

John G. Bogert, Esq., Russian Consul, New York. 

Rev. John Chester, Hudson, New York. 

Hon. Sam'l L. Mitchell, LL.D., New York. 

Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, Albany, N. Y. 

Mr. Horatio Gates Spofford, Albany, N. Y. 

Hon. James Kent, LL.D., Chancellor, N. Y. 

Hon. Rufus King, LL.D., New York. 

Gen. Joseph Bloomfield, N. York. 

Hon. Elias Boudinot, LL.D., BurUngton, N. Jer'y. 

Rev. James Richards, Newark, N. Jersey. 

Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D., Pres't Nassau Hall Coll., N. J. 

Hon. Gouverneur Morris, New York. 

Benjamin Smith Barton, M.D., Philadelphia. 

Abraham Clark, M.D., Newark, N. J. 

Rev. Henry Muhlenberg, D.D., Philadelphia. 

John Leeds Bozman, Esq., Maryland. 

Rev. Charles Coffin, D.D., Tennessee. 

Richard Rush, Esq., Att'y Gen. U.S.A., Washington. 

Rev. William Allen, Pittsfield, Mass. 

Hon. Joseph Story, Salem, Mass. 

Mr. John Farrar, Prof. &c., Cambridge, Mass. 

Loammi Baldwin, Esq., Cambridge, Mass. 

Samuel Jennison, Jr., Esq., Worcester. 

William Barton, Esq., Philadelphia. 

Hon. Kilborn Whitman, Pembroke, Mass. 

Nathaniel Spooner, Esq., Plymouth. 

Hon. Joshua Thomas, Plymouth. 

James Sever, Esq., Kingston, Mass. 

Rosseter Cotton, Esq., Plymouth, Mass. 

James Thacher, M.D., Plymouth, Mass. 

Hon. William Baylies, Bridgwater, Mass. 

John Winslow, Esq., Hanover, Mass. 

Isaac Winslow, M.D., Marshfield, Mass. 

Caleb Thaxter, Esq., Hingham, Mass. 

Hon. Nathan'l Freeman, Sandwich, Mass. 

Rev. Jonathan Burr, Sandwich, Mass. 

Jonas Whitman, Barnstable, Mass. 

David Scudder, Esq., Barnstable, Mass. 

John Reed, Esq., Yarmouth, Mass. 

Isaac Winslow Whitman, Esquire, Brewster, Mass. 

Ebenezer Gay, Esqr., Hingham, Mass. 

Gad Hitchcock, M.D., Scituatc, Mass. 

Charles P. Sumner, Esqr., Boston.' 

1 Resigned by letter, Aug. 26, 1817. 



Meeting of June i, 1814 43 

Hon. Jeremiah Smith, L.L.D., C.J. New Hamp., Exeter. 

Hon. David Cobb, Gouldsboro, Maine. 

Hon. George Partridge, Duxbury, Mass. 

Hon. Thomas Dawes, Esqr., Boston. ^ 

Samuel Wyllys Pomeroy, Esq., Brighton. 

His Excellency, John T. Oilman, Gov'r of N. Hampshire. 

Hon. Benjamin West, Charlestown, N. Hampshire. 

Gen. Thomas Pinckney, Charleston, S. Carolina. 

Hon. William Tudor, Esq., Boston. 

Hon. Christopher Grant Champlin, Newport, R. Island. 

Nathaniel Adams, Esqr., Portsmouth, N. Hamp. 

Hon. Jabez Bowen, L.L.D., Providence, R. I. 

Mr. William Bond, Dorchester, Mass. 

Hon. John Coffin Jones, Boston. 

Col. Tobias Lear, Virginia. 

Hon. Samuel Sewall, L.L.D., C. J. of Mass., Marblehead. 

Nicholas Tillinghast, Esq., Taunton, Mass. 

Samuel Savage, M.D., Barnstable, Mass. 

Hon. Christopher Gore, L.L.D., Waltham, Mass. 

Sam'l L. Knapp, Esq., Newbury Port, Mass. 

Rev'd Eliphalet Nott, D.D., Pres't Schenect'y Coll., N. Y. 

The Hon. Sam'l Sewall, died suddenly before any of members elected at this 
meeting were notified of such election. 

Voted, that the Rev. Dr. Harris be requested to write a 
letter to Mrs. Hannah Crocker, expressive of the high sense 
they entertain of her donations and communications to the 
Society, and of their thanks for her early and earnest atten- 
tion to its interests.^ 

^ Declined by letter, July 15, 1814. 

* The following is Mrs. Crocker's letter offering several family relics to the 
Society . The arms and tobacco box are in the Society's cabinet. 

Boston, Feb'ry 21, 1814. 
Sir: — 

I send to your care my family armes, with a wish it may head the Anti- 
quarian Cabinet, not as Saussaye set up Madame De GuercheviUe in Arcadia 
in token of possession, but with an ardent v,'ish, as the male Hne of my family 
are extinct, the arms may be preserved from oblivion under the protecting care 
of the Antiquarian Society. May the mot[t]o be theirs and every member 
prove stout hearted, in antiquarian researches, till time shall reveal secrets yet 
unexplained, and ancient knowledge shall be restored to hght by the scrutinizing 
eye of the antiquarian. 

I send with the arms the identical whet-stone Dr. Increase Mather whet his 
knife on when our agent at the court of Great Briton, brought by him to America. 
His son Cotton whet the knife on it, that made the pens that wrote the Mag- 
nalia, and his son Samuel whet the knife that made the pens that wrote the life 
of his father, and his daughter whet the knife that made the pen that now 
writes the commitment of it to your keeping with an ardent wish, if yet a spark 
remains in it, the fire of the flint may be communicated to every member of the 
Society. 

In addition I send a tobaco box with this tradition as handed to the third, 
and fourth generation, that it was given by Sir WiUiam Phips to Dr. Increase 



44 American Antiqiiarian Society 

Voted, that a committee be appointed to devise ways and 
means for raising funds to erect a suitable edifice to contain 
the Library and Museum, and that the President and Pro- 
fessor Peck be requested to prepare a nomination list of five 
members as suitable persons to serve on said committee, and 
submit the same to the Society at their next meeting. 

Voted, that the thanks of the Society be presented to Mr. 
Isaiah Thomas, Jr., for his present of an elegant trunk for 
the safe keeping of records, papers, &c; and that Mr. Prescott 
and Mr. Snelling be a committee to procure a suitable in- 
scription to be placed on the same, in such manner and form 
as they may think most expressive of the Society's sentiments 
of respect for the donor, and the value of the present.^ 
Attest, 

J. Lathrop, Jr., Ass't Rec. Sec^y. 
A true copy of the proceedings at said last mentioned meet- 
ing as furnished by Mr. Lathrop. 
Attest, 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, Rec, Sec'y. 



MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 28, 1814 

At a stated meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, 
holden in Worcester at the Worcester Coffee House,^ on Wed- 
nesday the 28th day of September, a.d., 1814. 

Several subjects, relating to the concerns of the Society, 
came imder consideration; it appearing, however, that many 

Mather, with a wish it might be reco[g]nized in America as once owned by Sir 
Walter Raleigh. It has descended from Increase, to Cotton, from him to 
Samuel, from him to his daughter, whose chimneys twenty-two years ago last 
July reverted to the foimdation, and carried the box down with them. The 
top was lost in the ruins, the box continuing still orthodox, remained soimd at 
bottom. 

1 send with them a bottle containing a [reel] put together by an old con- 
tinental soldier, thirty years ago. I wish it preserved in your museum. 

H. M. Crocker. 
Isaiah Thomas, Jun., 
Cabinet Keeper 
To the Antiquarian Society. 

^ The tnmk bears a brass plate inscribed as follows: — "Presented to the 
American Antiquarian Society by Isaiah Thomas Jun'r, their Treasurer May 
1814." 

2 Kept by Reuben Sikes and usually called "Sikes's Coffee House." It 
is still standing and known as "The Exchange Hotel." 



Meeting .of October 24, i8ij 45 

of the members are engaged in business before the S. J. Court, 
now sitting in this town; Voted, that the further considera- 
tion of the business now before the Society be postponed until 
the next meeting, to be holden at Boston on the 23rd of 
October next. 

Voted, that this meeting be dissolved. 
Attest, 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, Rec. Sec. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, 1814 

At the Annual Meeting of the American Antiquarian Society 
held at the Exchange Cofifee house in Boston, October 24th, 
1814. 

A communication was read from the Chair, whereupon 

Voted, that the same be printed for the use of the Society, 
and that a copy be transmitted to each member.^ 

Voted, that a committee be appointed to take the address 
of the President into consideration and to report on such 
parts thereof as may be acted upon this day, before the 
adjournment of the Society. 

Voted, th2it the Hon'ble Edward Bangs, Rev'd WilHam 
Bentley, and Benjamin Russell, Esq., be the committee; and 
that the same gentlemen be a committee to cause to be 
printed the address, for the use of the Society. 

Voted, that the device for the seal of the Society, proposed 
by the committee appointed for that purpose be accepted; 
and that Mess'rs Snelling and Sam'l J. Prescott be a com- 
mittee to get the same engraven on steel for the use of the 
Society.^ 

Voted, that all accounts exhibited against the Society at 
this meeting, be referred to the Council for adjustment. 

Voted, that the report of a committee appointed to nomi- 
nate a committee of ways and means be accepted, and that 

' Printed in 1815 at Worcester by William Manning in a pamphlet of 27 
pages, containing also the list of Officers and Members, and donations for 1814. 
The " Communication " is here reprinted after the records of this meeting. 

* The report of the Committee cannot be found. The original drawing of 
the Seal was designed by Isaiah Thomas and drawn by John R. Penniman, 
Boston. The seal was not cut until 1819 when it was done at Mr. Thomas's 
expense at a cost of $25.00, and presented to the Society. For all that is known 
of its history see " Diary of Isaiah Thomas," in Transactions, vol. 10, p. 20 note. 



46 American Antiquarian Society 

accordingly the following gentlemen compose said committee; 
viz. 

Doct'r William Paine, 
Samuel J. Prescott, Esq'r, 
Benjamin Russell, Esq, 
Rev'd William Bentley, 
Hon'ble Edward Bangs. 

and that the President appoint such a number in addition 
as he may deem expedient. 

Voted, that the thanks of the Society be presented to 
Thomas Wilhams, Jun'r, Esq'r of Roxbury, for his donation 
of a map of the River of St. John. 

Voted, to print a schedule of the donations made to this 
Society, in their next publication.^ 

On motion of the Rev'd Mr. Bentley, Voted, that a Cata- 
logue of the Society's Library be printed, and a copy pre- 
sented to each member. 

At twelve o'clock, agreeably to appointment, the Society 
went in procession to the Stone Chapel, to attend the religious 
and literary services of the day. After a solemn prayer and 
suitable lessons from the Holy Scriptures, by the Rev'd 
Doct'r Lathrop, an elegant and instructive discourse was 
delivered by the Rev'd Doct'r Holmes; after which the Society 
returned to the Exchange Coffee house, when on motion of 
the Hon'ble Edward H. Robbins, a committee was appointed 
to wait on the Rev'd Dr. Holmes and present the thanks of 
the Society, for his excellent discourse this day delivered, and 
request a copy thereof for the press.^ The Society then 
adjourned to half past 3 o'clock. 

Exchange Coffee House, ^ past 3, p.m. The Society re- 
assembled, and proceeded to business. 

Voted, that the President, Vice-President and Council be 
a committee to revise the Laws. 

Voted, that the committee of ways and means for building, 
etc., be requested to report to the President, Vice-Presidents, 
and Council, and that they be desired to take such measures 
as they shall judge best to carry the same into effect, and at 
such time as shall appear to them most expedient. 

* This schedule was printed with the " Communication from the President " 
of 1814. 

* The address was published November, 1814, by Isaiah Thomas, Jim, 
Boston, in a pamphlet of 29 pages and is here reprinted after the Communica- 
tion from the President. 



Meeting of October 24, 1814 47 

Voted, That the report of the committee on the treasurer's 
account be accepted. 

Voted, That the treasurer be authorized to change all the 
bank-bills which are in his possession into Boston, or Wor- 
cester money. 

Voted, That the third article of the Laws be so far amended 
as that three corresponding Secretaries shall be chosen instead 
of two. 

Voted, That a member be chosen to fill the ofl&ce of Librarian 
and Cabinet-keeper. 

On the report of the committee chosen to take into con- 
sideration the President's address and report this day, Voted, 
that a committee be appointed to draft a petition to Congress. 

The Society agreeably to the provision of their constitution, 
proceeded to the choice of officers. Mess'rs Prescott and 
Sumner were appointed a committee to receive, sort, and 
count the votes. The following gentlemen were unanimously 
elected to the respective offices afl&xed to their names. 

Isaiah Thomas, Esq., of Worcester, President. 

William D. Peck, Esq., of Cambridge, Prof, of Botany, &c., First 
Vice-President. 

William Paine, Esq., M.D., of Worcester, Second Vice-President. 

Hon. Timothy Bigelow, of Medford, ^ 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., of Worcester, 

Hon. Edward Bangs, of Worcester, 

Samuel J. Prescott, Esq., of Boston, \- Counsellors. 

Rev'd William Bentley, of Salem, 

Dr. Redford Webster, of Boston, 

Benjamin Russell, Esq., of Boston, 

Rev'd Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D., of Dorchester, ■) ^ a j- 

Rev'd William Jenks, Prof. Divinity, Bath, \^corresponatng 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., of Worcester, J ^^'^''«^«''*^-^- 

Hon'ble Oliver Fiske, of Worcester, Recording Sec'y. 

John Lathrop, Jr., Esq., of Boston, Assistant Recording Secretary. 

Mr. Isaiah Thomas, Jr., of Boston, Treasurer. 

Mr. Sam'l Jennison, Jr., of Worcester, Librarian and Cabinet 
Keeper. 

Voted, That the President, Judge Bangs, and Levi Lincoln, 
Jr., Esq., be a committee to draft and present a petition to 
Congress for the purpose of procuring the franking of all 
communications and letters to and from the Society; and to 
request a complete set of the Laws, &c., of the United States.^ 

* As a result of this action a resolution was passed by Congress approved by 
the President, Dec. i, 1814, giving the Society all past and future publications 



48 American Antiquarian Society , 

The following gentlemen were elected members: 

Hon'ble Langdon Cheves, Charleston, S. Carolina. 

Hon. William Gaston, Raleigh, N. CaroUna. 

Hon. Samuel W. Dana, Middletown, Connecticut. 

Hon. Daniel Sheffey, Virginia. 

Hon. Jeremiah Morrow, Ohio. 

Hon. Charles Goldsborough, Maryland. 

Hon. Robert H. Goldsborough, Maryland. 

Hon. Joseph Pearson, N. Carolina. 

Hon. Daniel Webster, Portsmouth, N. Hampshire. 

Hon. Eligius Fromentin, New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Christoph Daniel Ebeling, Prof. Hamburg. 

Cap't Benjamin Trevett, of the U. States Navy, New York. 

Jonathan Thompson, Esq., Natchez. 

Charles W. Greene, Esq., Boston. 

MoNS. Sorrel, Parish of St. Mary, Attacapas, Louisiana. 

Hon. George Thacher, Biddeford, Maine. 

Hon. Elisha Boudinot, Newark, New Jersey. 

Gen'l John Noble Gumming, Newark, New Jersey. 

Rev'd Reuben Nason, Freeport, Maine. 

Rev'd Benjamin Trumbull, D.D., Northhaven, Connecticut. 

Rev'd John Prince, L.L.D., Salem. 

Baron L'Escallier, Cor. Nat. Inst. &c.. New York. 

Right Rev'd John Henry Hobart, D.D., New York. 

His Excellency William Clark, Gov'r Missouri Territory. 

Hon. David Sewall, York, Maine. 

Joseph Tilden, Esq., Boston. 

Hon'ble Samuel Freeman, Portland, Maine. 

David Hosack, M.D., New York. 

John W. Francis, M.D., New York. 

Lyman Spalding, M.D., New York. 

Samuel Russell Trevett, M.D., U. States Navy, N. Y'k. 

Rev'd Charles Lowell, Boston. 

Hon. James Brown, New Orleans. 

Voted, That a committee of arrangements to assist the 
Council in preparation for the next celebration be appointed. 
Doct. R. Webster, Maj'r Russell, Mr. Prescott, Mr. Lathrop, 
and Mr. Snelling, were appointed. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the third Wed- 
nesday in January next, then to meet at three o'clock p.m., 
at the Exchange Coffee house, Boston. 

A true entry of the proceedings of the meeting as furnished 
by the Assistant Secretary. 
Attest, 

Oliver Fiske, Rec^g Secretary. 

published by order of Congress. A similar resolve was passed in February, 
1815, by the Massachusetts Legislature and later by the legislatures of New 
Hampshire, Connecticut, Louisiana, Kentucky and Delaware. 



Meeting of October 24, 18 14 49 

Report of the Treasurer 

The Treasurer of the American Antiquarian Society reports the 
following statement of monies received, paid ds'c, for the lastyear. 

Dr. December 22, 181 j 

Cash received from his predecessor, L. Lincoln, Esq IS4-5o 

" Benj. Russell, 2.00 — Timothy Bigelow, 2.00 — E. H. 

Derby, 2.00 6 . 00 

" Prof. Peck, 2.00 — E. T. Andrews, 2.00 — Dr. Bancroft, 

2.00 6.00 

" T. L. Winthrop, 20.00 — Rev. S. Willard, 2.00 — W. 

Wilkinson, 2.00 24 . 00 

" Gov. Jones, 2.00 — Prof. Peck, 2.00 — I. Thojnas, Jr., 

18.00 22 .00 

" Col. Humphreys, 20.00 — W. Sargeant, Esq., 20.00 — 

A. Bigelow, 2.00 42 . 00 

" P. O. Thatcher, Esq., 2.00 — O. Fiske, 2.00 — Mr. Pres- 

cott, 2.00 6 . 00 

" S. Jennison, 2.00 — Dr. Lyman, 2.00 — C. C. Pinckney, 

4.50 8 . 50 

" Hon. J. MarshaU, 5.00 — O. Bray, 2.00 — E. H. Rob- 
bins, 2.00 9 . 00 

" H. Gahn, 20.00 — N. Maccarty, 2.00 — Dr. Lathrop, 

2.00 24.00 

" Judge Winthrop, 2.00 — C. Thaxter, Esq., 2.00 — A. 

Davis, Esq., 4.00 8 . 00 

" Judge Story, 5.00 — W. D. Peck, 2.00 — B. Russell 

2.00 9 00 

" Dr. W. Paine, 2.00 — C. P. Sumner, 2.00 — Rev. Mr. 

Bentley, 2.00 6.00 

*' Rev. Dr. Morse, 2.00 — S. Willard, 2.00 — W. Bond, 

2.00 — Mr. Snelling, 2.00 8 . 00 

$233.00 
Cr. 

Feb. 22. By Cash pd. Rev. Mr. Jenks $20.00 

1814 " Printing Addresses, Expose, 

&c., of the Society, 300 

Copies each 48 ■ 50 

Mar. 9. " Rev. Mr. Jenks 20 . 00 

Apr. 22. " for rooms at the Exchange 

Coflfee House 12 . 00 

" for 2 blank books for the 

Treasurer 8 . 50 

June 7. " room at the Exchange Coffee 

House 2 . 00 

Aug, 29. " for exchange of H. Gahn's 

check 1 . 00 

Sept. " Col. Sikes for meeting at 

Worcester i.oo $113.00 

$120.00 



5© American Antiquarian Society 

Balance on hand $i 20 . oo 

Cash in Secretary's hands 64 . 00 

Error in bill adjusted 0.62 

Carried to new a/c $184 . 62 

October 24, 18 14. 
Statement of the Treasurer's account as presented by him to the Com- 
mittee to adjust the same October 24, 18 14. 

Treasurer charges himself with having received in cash $233 . 00 

Paid on sundry accounts & expenses $113 .00 

Cash on hand 120.00 $233 .00 



The Treasurer also reports the sum of 64 Dolls, which 
has been received by the Secretary, as donations but not been 
paid over to your Treasurer making the sum of 184 Dolls, 
subject to the order of the Society. 

Balance brought down $120 . 00 

Balance in hands of Sec'y 64 . 00 

Error in bill for books 0.62 

$184.62 

The Committee have examined the above account and find 
it correct. 

Redford Webster. 

N. G. Snelling. 
Boston, October 24, 1814. 

The committee appointed to examine the acco'ts of the 
Treasurer, report: — That the sum of two hundred ninety 
seven dollars has been receiv'd by the said Treasurer; and 
that the sum of one hundred and twelve dollars and thirty- 
eight cents has been paid by him for acco't of the Society, for 
which he has produced sufiicient vouchers; leaving a balance 
in his hands of one hundred eighty-four dollars and sixty-two 
cents. 

Redford Webster. 
N. G. Snelling. 
Boston, 
Oct'r 24th, 1814. 



Communication from the President 51 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE PRESIDENT 

Gentlemen : 

As our Society comes together periodically, and continues 
any meeting but for a short time, we have not leisure either 
to project or to mature many plans for the promotion of the 
designs of the institution. 

In consequence of the relation in which I now stand with 
the Society, until some further provision shall be made for 
regular meetings of the Standing Council, and their powers 
and duties are extended, I have deemed it not inconsistent 
with official duties, to take into consideration the general 
state and affairs of the Institution; to receive the suggestions 
of any of its members for its benefit; and to present them, 
under existing circumstances, to you, that such notice may 
be taken of them as shall appear to be expedient. 

Our Society is in its infancy, but it has a legal existence, 
and by proper exertions will become useful to our country. 
Similar institutions in Europe, which now rank high in pub- 
lick estimation, for many years after their formation, were 
not of more consequence to the countries wherein they were 
established, than the American Antiquarian Society is, at 
this time, to the United States. 

The Books on our Catalogue will not bear comparison with 
those of the long estabHshed Libraries of Antiquaries in 
Europe. We have only a few volumes of very ancient typog- 
raphy.^ Our small Library consists, principally, of Books 
of the 1 6th, 17th and i8th centuries; but many of them are 
valuable, particularly those by American authors, inasmuch as 
they assist us in the discovery of the then state of literature, 
and of reUgion, in our country. Time will make those which 
are modern, more precious — they will become antique. We 
have in our collection, files of the first newspapers printed 
in British North America, which are probably the earHest 
that were published in this western world. We have, also, 
some of the first periodical works which appeared in Europe. 

You will. Gentlemen, see by the records, that, during the 
past year, the Library has considerably increased; and that, 
within this period, many articles have been presented for the 

^ These are of the 15th century. 



52 American Antiquarian Society 

Cabinet. Our Library now consists of nearly three thousand 
volumes.^ 

When we consider, that the vast Libraries, and the splendid 
Museums, possessed by similar institutions on the elder con- 
tinent, had an origin as humble as ours, we may with con- 
fidence indulge the hope, that when this institution shall 
have arrived at the respectable age which those now bear, 
its means for extensive usefulness will not be exceeded by 
any of the like kind in any section of the globe. But, 

A Society cannot become extensively useful, imless the ob- 
jects for which it is instituted, are pursued with some degree 
of energy. It will not be expected that we should individually 
devote a very considerable part of our time to the affairs of 
this institution; yet, without injury to himself, every member 
may do something for its benefit. There are various ways by 
which we may contribute to its prosperity; — some may be- 
stow a little personal attention to the management of its 
local concerns; — others may devise projects, by which its 
interest and its usefulness may be essentially promoted ; — 
and others collect, as convenience and opportunity permit, 
articles for its Cabinet, and donations of books, files of news- 
papers or other periodical works, maps, charts, manuscripts, 
and various articles proper for the institution. If each 
member would, at his leisure, collect and send, at least an- 
nually, soYnething worth preserving to the Library or Museum, 
although the value of the gift be small, the stock of books 
and of articles in our Cabinet, would, in a few years, appear 
highly worthy of the inspection of the most profound Anti- 
quar>' of this or any other country. 

At this day, there are numberless old books, newspapers 
and magazines, and many relicks of antiquity, crowded to- 
gether in garrets and store houses, of no use to any one, and 
hastening to destruction by means of the weather and vermin ; 
but, if they were deposited with this Society, many articles 
might be selected from them, worthy of preservation, and 
interesting to posterity. 

It would seem, at first view, a well founded observation, 
that by printing, and its multipHcity of copies, society was 
forever relieved from all danger of the total loss of any work 

* Since this Communication was made, about 900 volumes, being the re- 
mains of the Library, formerly belonging to Drs. Increase and Cotton Mather, 
the most ancient in Massachusetts, if not in the United States, have been 
presented to the Society. 



Communication from the President 53 

which has been through the press; experience, however, 
teaches, that of thousands of editions of printed books, not 
a copy of them is now to be found; and if, of others, there 
may remain here and there a copy among rubbish, they are 
of no use, for no one knows where to search for them. 

Some method should be adopted to procure, and deposit 
in the Library, the publications which from time to time issue 
from the press. This can be effected, in a great measure, if 
each member will enjoin on himself, annually, to present to 
the Society one or more volumes. 

Thousands of newspapers, and other periodical works, are 
destroyed after they have had the usual reading. Instead of 
permitting this destruction, if the members would direct these 
publications, after having been perused in their famihes, to 
be carefully laid aside; and, if such members, once in six 
months, or yearly, would send them to the Society's Library, 
or places of temporary deposit, it would afford a sufficient 
supply of this necessary article for preservation. 

There are but few who do not wish their labours to be 
known to posterity. Every author, every printer or publisher 
of a book, or publick journal, by sending a copy of each of 
the works they write, print or pubHsh, to the Library of this 
Society, may have their works recorded, and deposited in the 
best place possible for security and preservation; and, this 
not being a circulating library, they will remain for centuries 
subject to the inspection of historians and scientific men, 
and be a source of high gratification to Antiquaries of suc- 
ceeding ages. 

It has been remarked, and I believe correctly, that well 
informed printers and the best painters, in all countries, re- 
ceive more pleasure in viewing and examining the labours of 
those of their professions who have preceded them, than is 
common to those who practice other arts; and, we all know 
that authors who write on any particular subject, which has 
already been before the publick, are always desirous of as- 
certaining how it has been treated by those who have pre- 
viously taken it into consideration. — To all such, the Library 
of this Society will, undoubtedly, ere long, afford much grati- 
fication. 

Several things have been suggested to me by members of 
this Society, tending to its interest. — Permit me to mention 
some of them. 

I. That we may make the institution better comport 



54 American Antiquarian Society 

with the name it bears — "American Antiquarian Society" — 
and more readily effect the purposes intended, it will be 
expedient to have a suitable number of respectable and use- 
ful members in all the principal cities and towns in the United 
States, and some in the interiour of every state. 

2. That it may be advisable to alter the laws so far as to 
have an additional number of Counsellors, not exceeding 
thirty — of these, to elect annually as many as may be thought 
requisite, and to add others when it shall appear necessary — 
to choose five from Boston or its vicinity, as a Subcouncil, 
three to form a quorum — also five in the vicinity of the 
Library and Cabinet, as a Subcouncil, three of whom to form 
a quorum — both of which Subcouncils to meet monthly, or 
oftener, one in Boston, the other in Worcester, to consult 
on measures for the benefit of the institution, and that each 
Subcouncil should make report of their doings to the General 
Council, to be holden at regular times and places, and also 
on each day of the stated meetings of the Society; — the 
two Subcouncils, with such other Counsellors as may meet 
with them, to form the General Council, four of whom to con- 
stitute a quorum for transacting the business assigned to 
them in Art. 2, of the laws; — one Counsellor to be appointed 
for the county of Plymouth [which was the first Newengland 
colony] and one in each of the states wherein there shall reside 
not less than ten members; each of these Counsellors to receive 
communications from the members in the state in which he 
resides, or from those of another state wherein no Counsellor 
may have been appointed, and forward them to the President, 
or to either of the Corresponding or Recording Secretaries, 
to be laid before the General Council at their then next meet- 
ing. The Counsellors chosen for other states than Massa- 
chusetts, to advise by letter, or otherwise, on any matters for 
the benefit of the institution, especially such as respect the 
members, &c. in the states wherein such Counsellors reside. 
The Counsellors of every state to have a seat, and to vote at 
the meetings of the General Council. 

3. To appoint some member in every capital or chief 
town in the United States, and in other parts of the continent, 
and wherever it may be thought by the Council to be nec- 
essary, to receive articles presented to the Society, or pur- 
chased for them, and to take the charge of them until they 
can be forwarded to the Library or Cabinet. 

4. To have more frequent stated meetings of the Society, 



Communication from the President 55 

by which means many things may be suggested and receive 
deliberation, and plans adopted that may essentially benefit 
the institution. It has been already observed, that when the 
members of a Society meet but seldom, and only for a few 
hours, but little business can be done, and they are thus 
rendered more indifferent to the concerns of the Institution 
than they otherwise would be; the Society thereby becomes 
inactive, and of course of less importance to the community. 
The stated meetings of the Antiquarian Society in England 
are weekly. Some of the most celebrated Hterary clubs of 
England, France and Germany, usually held their meetings 
weekly, and some oftener. Several of them have been highly 
beneficial to the world. The great Locke, Newton, and other 
scientific luminaries, were members of such clubs. It was 
in them they caught ideas which led to an explanation of those 
mysteries in science which till then had not been compre- 
hended by the mind of man. 

5. I am requested, also, to suggest, for your consideration, 
the expedience of admitting as members of this Society, some 
gentlemen who reside in various parts of Europe, the Eastindies 
and China. And, should it not be one of our first endeavours 
to extend membership to gentlemen of distinguished characters 
in Spanish and Portuguese America, particularly in the do- 
minions of the former, where, it is beheved, many valuable 
Antiquities of this continent may be precured? — Time and 
inquiry will undoubtedly furnish us with the names of suitable 
persons. If our Secretaries should be requested, when op- 
portunity permits, to open a correspondence with Societies 
similar to our own, in Europe, we may thereby obtain such 
information on this subject as will be satisfactory. 

Every measure that can be adopted to make the Society 
appear respectable as a National Institution, must be de- 
sirable. Cannot a sanction in some way be given to it by the 
National Legislature? Perhaps, by a petition to the National 
Government, it would permit newspapers, and other periodical 
works, to be sent to the Society in the mails, free of postage; 
and, it may resolve to send the Laws, &c. of the United States, 
to be deposited and preserved in our Library.^ 

1 Since this Communication was made, the National Government has or- 
dered its Laws, &c. to be sent to the Society; and the Legislature of Massachu- 
setts have directed the Secretary of the State to furnish the Institution with 
two copies of all their laws and other publications, which they now have, or 
may hereafter have. It is hoped the Society will experience like indulgence 
from the Legislatures of the other States. 



56 American Antiquarian Society 

As our principal objects are to collect and preserve — that 
which demands our first attention, and on which the pros- 
perity, if not the existence of this institution depends, is to 
provide means for, and to erect a suitable edifice for deposits. 
At a late meeting, we voted to choose a Committee of Ways 
and Means to effect these purposes. As much depends on 
the choice of this Committee, it has been deferred till this 
time.^ 

The location of a spot for a Library and Cabinet cannot be 
of so much consequence as their safety. An inland situation, 
experience convinces us, is more secure than a town accessible 
by sea; and, in a small town they will not be so much exposed 
to destruction by fire as they would be in a large one. Many 
valuable Libraries have been destroyed by fire in large cities; 
and many, so placed, are at this time greatly exposed to the 
like fatality! The philosopher and the historian, or any to 
whom the Library and Cabinet of this Society may be useful, 
will not greatly regret the distance which separates them 
from the objects of their pursuit, if they can but eventually 
obtain in one place, what, otherwise, they would have to seek 
in many. 

I cannot presume, that I have stated the best methods to 
be adopted for making this Society what we all wish it to be ; 
but, from a variety of suggestions for the benefit of the insti- 
tution, some may be matured so as to be productive of use- 
fulness. 

I have the honour to be, 

The Society's faithful Servant, 

ISAIAH THOMAS. 

Boston, October 24, 1814. 

^ A Committee of Ways and Means was chosen at this meeting, as follows: 
— William Paine, M. D., Samuel J. Prescott, Esq., Benjamin Russell, 
Esq., Rev. William Bentley, Hon. Edward Bangs, together with such others 
as the President and Council shall appoint. 



Address by Rev. Abiel Holmes 57 



ADDRESS BY REV. ABIEL HOLMES 

The most learned and polite people, the world ever knew, 
delighted in antiquities. Such is the description given of the 
Greeks by Tacitus.^ Who, then, will not respect the charac- 
ter, and encourage the pursuits, of the antiquary? 

The inquisitive propensity, inseparable from the antiqua- 
rian taste, doubtless contributed to that unrivalled preemi- 
nence in arts and literature, attained by ancient Greece. It 
led the historian to trace facts to their remotest source, the 
philosopher to investigate the most recondite properties of 
mind and matter, and the artist to seek the finest models for 
imitation. If the vanity of the Greeks availed itself of the 
passion for antiquity to assign to themselves an origin so re- 
mote, as to involve their early history, as well as mythology, 
in fable; let us not for this error, common to all ancient na- 
tions, denounce the passion itself, or its legitimate objects. 
Did our national vanity tempt us to throw a veil over our 
origin, that our future poets and historians might have the 
same advantage of giving it a fictitious splendour; the at- 
tempt were idle and preposterous. For the Greeks such a 
deception was rendered practicable by the barbarism of their 
forefathers, by the intellectual and moral darkness which 
generally overspread the world at the period of their first 
settlement in Greece, and by the fabulous mythology which 
was every where received until the downfal of Athens. Nor 
may it be forgotten, that at the time of their greatest refine- 
ment, when they were most inclined to impose on themselves 
in regard to their origin and early history, it was not difficult 
to impose on other nations, which, for their comparative 
ignorance and want of refinement, they indiscriminately 
styled "barbarians." For us such an imposition were im- 
possible. Our origin is of so recent a date, and such was 
the literary character of the European nations at the period 
of our settlement, particularly of that nation from which we 
originated, that any pretensions to antiquity, or honour, be- 
yond our claims, would but expose us to derision. 

Only three hundred and twenty two years have elapsed 
since the discovery of America by Columbus; an event not 
to be recited without gratitude, a name not to be uttered 
without admiration. We cannot pass by the anniversary of 

^ Hist. lib. II. — "laetum antiquitatibus Graecorum genus." 



58 American Antiquarian Society 

this great discovery without pausing, devoutly to ascribe it 
to the wise and good providence of that BEING, "who hath 
made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face 
of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, 
and the bounds of their habitation." Nor, while we dwell 
with admiring delight on the name of the illustrious discoverer 
of our country, will we ever forget that he received his capac- 
ity to project, and his resolution to accompKsh the vast de- 
sign, from HIM, who "teacheth man knowledge," and whose 
"inspiration giveth him understanding." It was the purpose 
of the Creator, who hath "given the earth to the children 
of men," to assign this immense continent, long inhabited by 
beasts of the wilderness, or thinly populated by men scarcely 
less ferocious than they, to become the habitation of myriads 
of human beings, cultivated by knowledge, improved in arts, 
and enlightened by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Had we the 
lyre of the sweet psahnist of Israel, how aptly might we set 
to it his own beautiful ode, and call on this assembly to join 
in its lofty chorus: "O that men would praise the Lord for 
his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of 
men!" While adverting to the fertihty of our soil, the salu- 
brity of our air, and the happy temperature of our climate, 
with what grateful emotion might each of us chant the ad- 
ditional strain, "The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; 
yea, I have a goodly heritage!" 

These pleasant places, which we now occupy, this good land, 
which we now inherit, were cursorily visited by that acute ob- 
server and daring adventurer John Smith, previously to the 
formation of any European settlement here, and preferred by' 
him to all other unsettled territory on earth. Nothing, but 
the want of "means to transport a colony," seems to have 
prevented him from attempting a settlement in "the country 
of Massachusetts," which he pronounced a "paradise." 

We are reminded, then, of our infancy. This visit of Smith 
forms a memorable epoch in our history; for from the obser- 
vations he now made on our coasts, and islands, and harbours, 
he formed the first map of our country, to which was now, 
for the first time, given the name of New England. This 
was exactly two hundred years ago. The base and perfi- 
dious conduct of an adventurer towards the natives, that very 
year, suspended all attempts for colonization or commerce; 
and it was not until six years afterwards that the first settle- 
ment of New England commenced at Plymouth. Our antiq- 



Address by Rev. Ahiel Holmes] 59 

uities therefore do not extend back beyond the distance of 
two centuries; and those of Virginia, to but a few addi- 
tional years. 

In vain, then, do we make pretensions to an ancient origin, 
unless we recross the Atlantic, and trace it through the me- 
dium of a Parent, whom, though now a declared enemy, we 
need not blush to acknowledge; and, ascending through the 
ancient Britons and Saxons, discover, or think we discover, 
it in some northern nation, not less renowned for its charac- 
ter, than venerable for its antiquity. The antiquary, who 
would push this discovery, were a fit companion for the il- 
lustrious traveller, who, with unexampled patience, curiosity, 
and enterprise, sought until he found the source of the Nile. 

The Society, however, which I have the honour to ad- 
dress, will not be restricted to New England, to the United 
States, or to North America, but will be extended through- 
out the American continent. The peculiar design and ap- 
propriate objects of this recent association have already been 
so clearly stated, and so ably expounded,^ that any attempt 
at additional illustration might be deemed superfluous. It will 
be sufficient, if we may but excite a more vivid curiosity, and 
a more ardent zeal for the prosecution of your laudable de- 
sign. For even this humble purpose, however, you must al- 
low me to recal your attention to the advantages to be derived 
from the study of Antiquities. 

It is, in the first place, useful and entertaining. The ad- 
vantages of a knowledge of past events, and of the state of 
society in different periods of the world, are too obvious to 
need illustration. Not to know what took place before one 
was bom, is to remain always a child. The knowledge of 
past times, if not equivalent, is next in value to experience. 
How useful to youth are the counsels of age! "With the 
ancient is wisdom." The same benefit, that an individual 
may derive from this source, may one age derive from the 
history of another. The farther back that history is pursued, 
the greater is the range of observation, the more copious the 
collection of facts, and the more exact and perfect the re- 
ports of experience. Hence the study of the Antiquary is 
directly useful, as it conducts him to the knowledge of the 
varieties in the human character and condition, the causes of 
individual or national eminence, the rise, and progress, and 

* In the "Account of the Society," and "Address" to its Members, pub- 
lished in 1813. 



6o American Antiqtiarian Society 

decay of the useful or ornamental arts, and of the means by 
which the liberty and happiness of nations may be acquired, 
retained, or lost. 

To the culture of the fine arts nothing is more essential 
than the study of antiquities. It was in ancient times, and 
among ancient nations, that these arts were carried to the 
highest perfection, which they ever attained. To vanquished 
Greece was Rome indebted for those admirable models in 
poetry, eloquence, history, painting, statuary, and architec- 
ture, which enabled her to become her competitor for a fame 
more glorious and permanent than that of victory or con- 
quest. It was felt, indeed, no small indignity, while covered 
with military glory, to apply for instruction in arts to a 
people that she had subdued by her arms. 

" With honest scorn the first fam'd Cato view'd 
Rome learning arts from Greece, whom she subdued." 

Yet, but for Homer, and Plato, and Thucydides, and De- 
mosthenes, and Sophocles, and Menander, and Praxi- 
teles, and Apelles, Rome might never have produced a 
Virgil, or Seneca, or Li\y, or Cicero, or Terence, or those 
numerous sculptors, and painters, and architects, whose works 
have spread her fame throughout the world. 

The origin of those institutions, which are found by ex- 
perience to promote improvement in knowledge and virtue, 
and the prosperity and happiness of a community, is not less 
instructive to the statesman than to the philosopher. He 
may learn hence, to distinguish theory from facts, hypothesis 
from experience, and visionary projects from wise and salu- 
tory measures; and his knowledge may qualify him to render 
the most important services to his country. "I will turn my 
attention," said Valerius Maximus, "to the ancient and 
memorable institutions, as well of our own city, as of foreign 
nations ; for it is necessary that the elements of our prosperity 
be known, that a regard to them may improve the present 
times." 1 

This study is not less entertaining than it is useful. To 
the inquisitive mind, the illustrations it furnishes of the 
sameness or variety of the human character, in different na- 
tions and at different periods of the world, of the difference 
in the state of the useful or ornamental arts, of Hterature and 
science, and of the diversity of laws and governments, of man- 

* Val. Max. Lib. II. De Institutis Antiquis. Edil. Lugd. 1532. 



Address by Rev. Abiel Holmes 61 

ners and customs, cannot fail to afford high gratification. 
Who is not gratified in learning, from the sacred records, the 
history of creation, and the interesting events of the primi- 
tive age of the world; the deluge; the erection of the tower 
of Babel; the confusion of languages, the consequent dis- 
persion of men, and their division into distinct nations; the 
inventors of arts, as Jubal, "the father of all such as handle 
the harp and the organ," and Tubal Cain, "an instructor of 
every artificer in brass and iron?" Who is not gratified in 
tracing the Hebrews to their origin, and in studying the 
sacred antiquities of this "pecuhar people?" How interest- 
ing are the topographical and historical illustrations, derived 
from sacred and profane history, of Egjrpt, Nineveh, Baby- 
lon, Damascus, Jerusalem, Palmyra,^ and other ancient cities, 
that were once so distinguished for population and wealth, 
power and grandeur! How entertaining the descriptions of 
the pyramids and obelisks of Egypt, the walls of Babylon, 
the hanging gardens, and the temple of Belus! How en- 
chanting the description of the primitive state and manners 
of Greece, given by Homer, "whose immortal poems, a 
meteor in the gloom of night, brighten, for a moment, the 
obscure antiquities of his country!" How gratifying is it to 
learn the epoch and origin of the Olympiads, of the Areopagus, 
of the Amphictyonic council, and of the gymnasia of Athens; 
the inventor of letters, of the papyrus, of the mariner's com- 
pass, and of the art of printing, the preserver of all other 
arts! 2 

To go no farther than to the antiquities of our own coun- 
try — who is not gratified in tracing our salutary institu- 
tions to their origin, and in discovering the causes of our 
rapid progress in population, wealth and refinement, of our 
freedom and independence? Who can behold the portraits 
of the first settlers of New England, without mingled delight 
and admiration? Who does not take a melancholy pleasure 
in reading the inscriptions on their monuments, or in tread- 
ing the ground where they were content to lie without them? 
Who does not love to see any articles, either of utility or orna- 
ment, brought over to America by our ancestors when they 
first crossed the Atlantic, now deposited in our cabinets, or 
choicely preserved in the private bureaus of their descend- 
ants? Who can step on that rock, on which the pilgrim 

1 See Note A. 

2 See Note B. 



62 American Antiquarian Society 

fathers from Leyden first stepped, or even survey its frag- 
ments without grateful emotion? The vestiges of adven- 
turers, of but ephemeral residence on our coasts, are not 
traced without interest. How delightful must have been the 
discovery of the remains of De Mont's fort,^ after the lapse 
of nearly two centuries! With what "supreme satisfaction" 
our own Belknap, with his Kterary associates, discovered 
"the cellar of Gosnold's store house," he himself has informed 
us. What pleasure would it give us to find any indication 
of Charles' Fort on the Carolina coast, where a French Protes- 
tant colony attempted a settlement, a full century before the 
English; or the stone pillar, with the arms of France, erected, 
on that occasion, on the river of May? With what dehght 
should we learn, who are interred beneath those rude mon- 
uments at Frederica, in Georgia, now overgrown with forest 
trees, the tradition of which seems already lost. 

Could we, then, say no more than that the study of antiq- 
uities is useful and entertaining, we might be excused for 
those researches, which, to a superficial observer, may ap- 
pear idle, and to a rigid morahst, useless. 

While, therefore, we permit the entomologist to chase but- 
terflies interminably, that he may have the felicity of adding 
one to his collection of that countless variety of insects; the 
botanist to roam at large ^ 

"O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, 

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death," 

that he may add one rare member to a family of plants; 
the mineralogist to descend at the hazard of his Hmbs and 
life, to examine the strata of some newly discovered quarry, 
or to bring up some precious specimen of ore; and the 
aeronaut, at more fearful hazard, to navigate the etherial 
regions, to exemplify the wonderful improvements in pneu- 
matics, or to please and astonish the gazing multitude; let 
us be permitted quietly to spell out inscriptions in old 
grave yards; to pore over musty books, that have long 
lain concealed in garrets, too antiquated to be placed in a 
modern library; to ransack the records of "the days of other 
years;" to be transported at the discovery of an ancient 
manuscript; to hold long dialogues with Indians; to explore, 
to the very bottom, any mounds of earth, that have a sepul- 

* Built at St. Croix (Acadie) in 1604. Discovered by the British and Ameri- 
can commissioners in 1798. 



Address by Rev. Abiel Holmes 63 

chral, or military, or mystic appearance; to dig up subter- 
ranean walls, the design or occasion of which no man living 
can tell; to carry off, unmolested, any misshapen stone, 
which may haply prove to be some Indian relic, if not even an 
idol; to stare leisurely at any edifice, which promises by the 
face of it, to have stood a full century; to ask any pertinent 
questions, however improper or even rude they might be 
deemed from others; to have the right of preemption of any 
American antique, where the proprietor does not insist on 
his prior right of donation; and, in general, to do, excepting 
always petty larcenies and dilapidations, whatever the anti- 
quaries of the Old World have done, from time immemorial. 

But allow me to observe, in the next place. The study of 
antiquities is auxiliary to history and general Hterature. 
The discoveries of the antiquary throw great light on the 
primitive character of nations, on their origin, language, mi- 
grations, settlements, wars, manners and customs, and all the 
great events, prosperous or adverse, that occurred in their 
earhest and rudest state, preserved oftentimes by monuments, 
or inscriptions, or by oral tradition. Who does not instantly 
perceive that such discoveries may be of the most essential 
importance to the historian, the geographer, and the chronol- 
ogist? But for these discoveries how many occurrences, that 
make a conspicuous figure in history, had been unknown; 
how many sites of pristine settlements had been undis- 
covered; how many dates of important events had been un- 
settled ! 

Antiquity, far from being a rival, is but a handmaid, of 
History. Her office is more humble; her province, more 
restricted. The one furnishes a few of the valuable materials, 
with which the other constructs her superb edifice. The col- 
lections of the antiquary, void of method and unity, may, in 
the hands of the historian, serve to strengthen, illustrate, 
and adorn his work. Between those, who are engaged in 
such similar yet distinct pursuits, what occasion can there be 
for interference or collision? Diflferent Societies in the re- 
public of letters, by a division of labour, and diversity yet 
affinity of object, may most effectually promote the interests 
of the whole. "Etenim omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem 
pertinent, habent quoddam commune vinculum, et quasi 
cognatione quadam inter se continentur." ^ 

It is not only, then, let me here observe, to history and 
^ Cicero. 



64 American Antiquarian Society 

her kindred branches of knowledge, that the studies of the 
antiquary are auxiliary; but they may contribute to the il- 
lustration of ethics, theology, and bibhcal literature. A 
knowledge of the moral and reHgious sentiments of the pagan 
nations, of their mythology, and modes of worship, may not 
only serve to show the necessity and value of divine Rev- 
elation, but to elucidate those parts of it in which there is a 
plain reference, or obscure allusion, to the opinions or usages 
of the heathen. A knowledge of the manners and customs 
of the oriental nations, while necessary to the understand- 
ing of the Sacred History, is of equal necessity to the perception 
of the beauty and elegance, the grandeur and sublimity, of 
the Hebrew Poetry. The Researches of the Asiatic Society, 
the Indian Antiquities of Maurice, and similar publications, 
have done much not only towards silencing objections of 
infidels, but towards illustrating the Holy Scriptures. The 
labours of Bede, Usher, Spanheim, Dietericus, Bingham 
and others, have greatly illustrated ecclesiastical antiquity. 
The Origines Alexandrinae of Eutychius, in Arabic, preserved 
in the works of the learned Selden, show the principles and 
practice of one of the oldest churches in Christendom, re- 
specting the controverted question of the number of orders 
in the church; a striking confirmation of which is furnished 
by the discoveries made among the Syrian churches in India. ^ 
Old Roman medals have been used by able expositors for the 
illustration of prophecy. Ancient manuscript copies of the 
Old and New Testaments have led to such careful collations, 
as have at length satisfactorily determined, in most instances, 
the true reading of the original text. The truly antique Roll 
of the Law, brought from India by Dr. Buchanan, may il- 
lustrate the Pentateuch, particularly the patriarchal chronol- 
ogy. • We have a promise of two copies of this Roll; and, 
but for the calamitous war in which we are involved, they 
would, doubtless, before this time, have been placed in the 
libraries of two of our universities.^ 

1 will only add, that the knowledge of antiquity furnishes 
motives to improvement in learning and virtue. We have 
already seen, that the Greeks suppHed the Romans with mo- 
dels in composition and the fine arts. With these models 

» See Note C. 

2 It is worthy of remembrance, that an American .Antiquary, twenty years 
ago, in a letter to Sir William Jones, solicited a search for a copy of the Law, 
among the Jews at Cochin, where this was found. 



Address by Rev. Ahiel Holmes 65 

what powerful motives did they furnish to the copyists to as- 
pire to equal, or surpass, the originals! This source of excite- 
ment did not escape the notice of Longinus, when treating 
on the means of attaining subUmity in composition. "If 
ever we are engaged in a work which requires a grandeur of 
style and exalted sentiments, would it not then be of use to 
raise in ourselves such reflections as these? How, in this 
case, would Homer, or Plato, or Demosthenes, have raised 
their thoughts? Or, if it be historical, How would Thucy- 
DiDES? — What would Homer or Demosthenes have thought 
of this piece? Or, what judgment would they have passed 
upon it?" ^ 

Motives from this source, by which we may and ought to 
be excited to make progressive improvement in useful knowl- 
edge, and to perform great and good action, are numerous 
and cogent. The portrait of an ancient philosopher may 
excite us to the study of wisdom, or of an ancient hero or 
statesman, to valour and patriotism. The descendants of 
a great nation, even in times of extreme degeneracy, may be 
fired by a view of any striking memorial of their progenitors; 
the spot where stood an ancient city or temple; the scene of 
some great battle; or the theatre of some eventful war. An 
English traveller having hired a vessel to visit the isle of 
Tenedos, his pilot, an old Greek, as they were sailing along, 
said with complacency, "There 'twas our fleet lay." "What 
fleet?" said the Englishman. "What fleet!" replied the old<r 
man, "why our Grecian fleet at the siege of Troy." 

He who IS insensible to the influence of such associations 
of thought and feeling, must not only be incapable of some 
of the most pure and exquisite pleasures of Hfe, but unsus- 
ceptible of some of the most impressive motives to the ac- 
quisition of knowledge and virtue. Who can behold the 
venerable Oak, which concealed the Charter of Connecticut 
from the rapacious hands of Andros, or look at yonder Hill, 
where the tyrant was seized, and not feel a detestation of 
tyranny, and a firmer resolution to maintain the constitu- 
tional rights and Uberties of the state and country? Who 
can enter that venerable Hall,^ where the portraits of our 
forefathers are suspended, without a conscious expansion of 
soul, commencing with the first glow of admiration? Who, 
in the ideal presence of such men, is not restrained from what 

^ " On the Sublime," sect. xiv. 

2 Faneuil Hall ; — Historical Society's room, and similar apartments. 



66 American Antiquarian Society 

is dishonourable, and excited to what is worthy in design and 
noble in action? We explode all belief in tutelary divinities; 
but is it too much to beUeve, that these images are auxiliary 
to our security? By the potent spell of association they 
kindle in the bosom of the beholder the flame of liberty, of 
patriotism, or of piety; thus exciting to those counsels and acts, 
which, under God, are the defence of our country. It is thus, 
and only thus, that they become tutelary. By multiplying 
these images, and accumulating other impressive memorials, 
of our ancestors, we may be instrumental in preserving the 
reUgion and liberty, the institutions and laws, which we re- 
ceived from them, and of transmitting the invaluable legacy 
to the latest posterity. 

To the duties, then, which our Institution demands of us, 
let us, my respected associates, apply ourselves with dili- 
gence and zeal. Let not the infancy of our country be thought 
to render our name a solecism, or our labours a chimera. If 
our antiquities have less rust than those of other countries, 
time is daily adding something to their value. Many an 
article in our collections, which we look at with coldness, 
future antiquaries will behold with rapture. What is now 
most venerable for its antiquity, was once new; what is now 
new, will become old. If the field we occupy is barren, let 
us cultivate and enrich it for our descendants. Our fore- 
fathers were too much occupied with labours, burdened with 
ftcares, or encompassed with dangers, to preserve even ade- 
quate memorials of their own times. We have more leisure, 
and ampler means, both for recovering the past, and perpe- 
tuating the present. 

It is for the Antiquary to counteract the effects of negli- 
gence, destitution of taste or of knowledge, and pinching 
poverty, which are oftentimes scarcely less pernicious than 
Vandalism. Who could have imagined, that the Syracusans 
would be indebted to Cicero for the discovery of the tom^b of 
their celebrated countryman Archimedes, within a century 
and a half after his death? Who would have thought, that 
a Jewish Rabbi, of the eighteenth century', could ride through 
the Jordan, at the place where the Israelites passed on their 
journey to Canaan, and forget to look for the heap of stones, 
placed there in commemoration of that miraculous passage? ^ 

* On Deuteronomy iv. 9. President Stiles wrote in the margin of his Bible: 
"Rabbi Carigal told me that he once rode across Jordan at this place on a 
horse; but forgot to look for these stones." 



Address by Rev. Ahiel Holmes 67 

Who would think it credible, that, not very many years ago, 
several capital pictures of Corregio were employed at Stock- 
holm to stop the broken windows of the royal stables? ^ It 
is humiliating to add, that a fine portrait of one of the most 
illustrious fathers of New England, now suspended in one 
of our American colleges, was once employed for a similar 
purpose; and the defacement of the lower part of the canvas 
by the winds and storms, still shows how narrowly the whole 
escaped destruction. 

Against such barbarism let our viligance be incessantly di- 
rected; and let nothing within "this visible diurnal sphere," 
pertaining to antiquity, escape our notice, or care. By our 
records, periodical journals, historical and antiquarian col- 
lections and publications, and appropriate monuments and 
inscriptions, let us be careful to preserve what is worthy of 
preservation; and, some centuries hence, a Hollingshed, 
or Stow, or Spelman, or Camden, may rise up and bless our 
memory. 

Meanwhile let us do what we can towards illustrating, as 
well as preserving, the incipient antiquities of our country. 
The rich Mexican work of Clavigero, the invaluable His- 
torical Collections of Hazard, the pubHcations of historical 
and other societies, the ancient books and manuscripts still 
preserved in the remains of the New England, and of the 
Mather Libraries, and in the Historical Society, the 
Athen^um, and other repositories of our own times; and 
the antique collections in our colleges and museums, or in the 
private cabinets of our virtuosi, have done much towards 
this object. But much remains to be done. The valuable 
collection with which this society, through the liberaUty of 
its President, has commenced its labours, is an auspicious 
omen. The patronage, extended by our governments to this 
and similar institutions, is highly propitious. The recent 
assistance, given by the Legislature of this Commonwealth 
towards the pubHcation of an ancient and valuable manu- 
script History of New England,^ will reflect honour on our 
age. 

The immediate effect and ultimate advantages of such 
literary patronage are vastly greater than are commonly 
imagined. "The particular favour with which Leo X. re- 

^ This fact is asserted in Winicelman's " Reflections concerning the Paint- 
ing and Sculpture of the Ancient Greeks." 
^ By Rev. William Hubbaiuj of Ipswich. 



68 American Antiquarian Society 

garded antiquarian studies, gave them a new impulse at 
Rome, where many of the cardinals and distinguished prel- 
ates began to form collections, which have since been highly 
celebrated. Among these," the historian of the life of that 
Pontiff mentions "that of Angelo Colocci in the villa and 
gardens of Sallust," as "deserving particular notice. His 
statues, busts, sepulchral memorials, cameos, coins, and 
medals were numerous and valuable. The walls of his house 
were decorated with classical monuments in marble; and the 
Roman standard, and the consular Fasti of Colocci, have 
frequently been referred to, as the most authentick docu- 
ments, for ascertaining circumstances of considerable impor- 
tance in the topography and history of ancient Rome."^ 
Who can say, that the result of our humble labours, under 
similar auspices, may not, at some future period, be of equal 
utility and importance? 

Suppose that, in the reign of Trajan, one of the hills of 
Rome, the mons capitolinus for example, had been digged 
away, and carried to the banks of the Tyber, involving the 
historians and poets of the Augustan age in impenetrable 
obscurity. How would the Uterati of the present day have 
estimated a topographical description of that city on a roll 
of vellum, found in the ruins of Herculaneum, containing an 
accurate delineation of its seven hills, as they stood in the 
time of Augustus! May not a similar injury be done to 
our early history and poetry, by the removal of yonder hill ^ 
to the banks of the Charles? The time may come, when even 
the name ^ first given to this metropolis, will confound the 
historian, until he shall find in the archives of our societies, 
that this western section of the peninsula once actually con- 
tained three hills; that, like Rome, it had its capitoHne 
mount, overlooking the lofty, majestic structure.^ which so 
long — how long he may possibly tell — adorned this capital. 
The time may come, when, without our care, the monuments 
of our wars will become unintelHgible, Hke those of Muskin- 
gum; when the antiquities of our aborigines can no longer 
be found, and the vestiges of our own pristine settlements, 
no longer be traced. The time may come, when the sons of 
the Pilgrims will revert to the times of their forefathers for 

^ Roscoe's Life and Pontificate of Leo X. iv. 274. 

* Beacon hill. 

' Trinwuntain. See note D. 

* The State House. 



Address by Rev. Abiel Holmes 69 

old principles, antiquated manners, and patriarchal examples; 
and search our repositories for the memorials, and the means, 
of a free, pure and prosperous republic. Then Cotton's 
"Power of the Keys" may save our churches; "Old Men's 
Tears," our religion; and "New England's Memorial," our 
liberty. 

NOTES. 

Note A. Palmyra. It is gratifying to learn from the antiquary, that this 
celebrated city is the "Tadmor in the wilderness," built by King Solomon. 
See 2 Chronicles viii. 4. It was called Palmyra by the Greeks, who, under 
Alexander, settled in Syria and Mesopotamia; but in the time of the emperour 
Juhan, the change of names, which they had introduced, was found to be can- 
celled. "If you were to mention Palmyra to an Arab on the spot, he would 
not know to what you alluded. Instead of Palmyra, he would talk of Ted- 
mor; and in lieu of Zenobia, he would tell you that it was built by Salmah 
Ebu Doud, that is, by Solomon the son of David. — The Grecian name Palmyra, 
probably of 2000 years standing, is novel to a native Arab." Bryant's Myth- 
ology, i. 214. 

Note B. It was with extreme difficulty that Polydore Vergil, who lived 
near the time of this invention, could discover the inventor. Having men- 
tioned the oblivion into which the inventors of other useful arts had fallen, he 
adds: "Sed quid miramur ejusmodi rerum admodum tenuium in ven tores 
diutumitatem temporis obliterasse? cum imprimendarum literarum artis noviter 
divinoquodam ingenio excogitatae ipse autor propemodum in tenebris jaceret." 
He had previously observed, "Joan. Cuthenbergus natione Theutonicus, 
equestri vir dignitate, ut ab ejus civibus accepimus, primus omnium in oppido 
Germaniae, quam Moguntiam vocant, hanc artem excogitavit." Pol. Verg. 
de rerum inventoribus. Basileae. 1536. Lib. iii. cap. 18. lib. ii. cap. 7. — "The 
History of Printing in America," by the President of this Society, is a very 
valuable work on a curious and interesting branch of American antiquities. 
Let the members follow this example of inquisitive research, patient investi- 
gation, and antiquarian zeal, and great will be the harvest of their vmited la- 
bours. Specimens of typography and engraving, arranged in chronological 
order, showing the progress of these arts in this country, from their rude begin- 
ning to their present state of refinement, would greatly enhance the value of 
our collections. While the first articles, in each series, would indicate the 
character of a young, provincial, and indigent people, the last would bear im- 
pressions of age, independence, and opulence; and would sustain a respectable 
comparison with those of the parent country. Specimens of original works of 
American authors, in prose and verse, arranged in the same order, illustrative 
of the variations in the method, and of the progressive improvement in the style, 
of composition, would be very curious and valuable. 

Note C. This article is noticed, because it is a striking instance of the 
utility of antiquarian researches, where facts of an ancient date affect questions 
of importance. The Acts of the Synod of Diamper, in 1599, render it certain, 
that the Syrian Christians held "two orders only " in the church, "Diaconate 
and Priesthood." It was an error, therefore, in Dr. Buchanan, to insert a 
third order in his "Researches in India," after the statement of but two, in 
his "Memoir respecting an Ecclesiastical Establishment for British India." 
That this mistake arose from his finding three ecclesiastical officers among the 
Syrians (whom he visited after he wrote the Memoir) I conclude from his obser- 
vations in a letter, which I had the honour to receive from him after the publi- 
cation of his Researches. The Doctor observes, that, beside presbyters and 



70 American Antiquarian Society 

deacons, there are metropolitans (or bishops) in the Syrian church. These, 
it appears, he had supposed to be a distinct order. But, on reviewing the sub- 
ject, after the disagreement between the accounts given in his two publications 
had been respectfully stated to him, he proceeds to observe: "They acknowl- 
"edge also a Patriarch, who is above all; but it is a singular fact (admitted 
"also by Renaudot in his account of the Jacobite church) that this Patriarch 
"need not be in other orders than that of Priest or even Deacon. A similar 
"analogy may exist in regard to the metropolitan; thus making a distinction 
" between orders and names of dignity." — The fact here mentioned, as well as 
the candid concession subjoined, leaves the Syrian tenet of "two orders" where 
the truth of history had fixed it. 

Note D. Trimountain. Of the origin of this name the Rev. Dr. Samuel 
Mather gives the following account: "As the Indians had long given the name 
of Shawmut to this place, it was then generally called by this name; but the 
people who resided at Charlestown, from their view and observation of three 
hills, that appeared in a range to them, saw fit to call it first by the name of 
Trimoimtain." Coll. Hist. Soc. i. 256. Beacon hill was the principal one 
in this range. — Mr. Thomas Pemberton, the late distinguished antiquary 
of Boston, observes, "Beacon hill is the second of a range of three hills which 
run from the head of Hanover street W. to the water. This is the largest within 
the peninsular." Ibid. iii. 244. 



MEETING OF JANUARY 18, 1815 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
by adjournment, at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, 
on the third Wednesday of January, 181 5. 

The proceedings of the meeting having been read, the 
committee for revising the Laws presented their report, 
which was read, and after the adoption of some amendments 
proposed by the Rev'd Mr. Lowell, and Hon. Mr. Whitman, 
the same was accepted by a unanimous vote.^ 

On motion of the Rev'd Mr. Lowell, Voted, That the third 
article of the Bye Laws be transferred to the eighth article of 
the Standing Laws. 

Mr. Isaiah Thomas, Jun'r, and Sam'l J. Fresco tt, Esq., 
were appointed a committee to receive, count and report on 
ballots for candidates. 

The following gentlemen were unanimously elected members. 

Rev'd John Pierce, of Brookline. 

Amasa Paine, Esq., of Troy, New York. 

Stephen Codman, Esq., of Boston. 

Rev'd Samuel Farmer Jarvis, of New York. 

Rev'd John Lauris Blake, of New London, Corin't. 

Rev'd Josiah Bishop Andrews, of New York. 

Theodoric Romeyn Beck, M.D., of New York. 

^ The revised Laws were printed in 1815 in a pamphlet of eight pages, and 
also in vol. i of the Society's Transactions and they are here reprinted at the 
end of the records of this meeting. 



Meeting of January i8, 1815 71 

A true entry of the proceedings of the meeting as furnished 
by the assistant Secretary. 

Attest, 

Oliver Fiske, Rec. Sec'y. 



Laws of the American Antiquarian Society 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, holden 
by adjournment at the Exchange Coffee House, in Boston, 
on the third Wednesday of January, 181 5 — 

On the report of the Committee for revising the Laws, 
Voted, That the fundamental Laws contained in ten articles, 
be and are hereby repealed; and the following substituted as 
the Laws of the American Antiquarian Society, viz. 

Article I 

There shall be a President and two Vice-presidents. It 
shall be the duty of the President, and in his absence of one 
of the Vice-presidents, to preside in the meetings of the 
Society, and of the Council, and to regulate their debates; 
to call meetings of the Council and Subcouncils, and extra- 
ordinary meetings of the Society, by advice of the Council, 
or either of the Subcouncils. The President or presiding 
officer shall vote in Council, and in either of the Subcouncils, 
and also have a casting vote. — The Vice-presidents shall, ex- 
officio, be members of the Council, and of each of the Sub- 
councils. If at any meeting of the Society, the President or 
Vice-presidents be absent, the oldest Counsellor present shall 
preside; if no Counsellor be present, the oldest member shall 
preside. 

Article II 

Sec. I. There shall be a Council, which shall be composed 
of the two Subcouncils, and of the Counsellors chosen for the 
several states, and for Plymouth and Maine; any four of 
whom shall constitute a quorum. The Council shall meet 
twice in every year, one of which meetings shall be on the 
day next preceding the annual meeting of the Society in 
October; and when this shall be on Monday, the meeting of 
the Council shall be on Saturday next preceding. The other 



72 American Antiquarian Society 

meeting shall be holden on the Wednesday next preceding the 
last Thursday in June, in Worcester. The hour and place of 
assembHng to be appointed by the Council. It shall be the 
duty of the Counsellors to direct the Corresponding Secre- 
taries in the performance of their duty; to present to the 
Society such regulations and by laws as shall be thought ex- 
pedient; to receive donations, and, with the President, to 
purchase, sell or lease, for the benefit of the Society, real or 
personal estate; to draw orders on the treasury for necessary 
monies; and in general to manage the prudentials of the 
Society. 

Sec. 2. There shall be five Counsellors residing in the 
vicinity of the Library and Cabinet, constituting a Sub- 
council, for managing the immediate concerns of the Library 
and Cabinet, and also to consult on measures for the benefit 
of the Institution. This Subcouncil shall meet once in every 
month, at such time and place as they shall appoint. Three 
shall form a quorum. Once in every three months they shall 
examine the Library and Cabinet, and critically inspect the 
condition of the articles contained therein; and shall report 
their proceedings to the Council. 

Sec. 3. There shall be five Counsellors whose residence 
shall be in Boston, or its vicinity, who shall form another 
Subcouncil, and meet once in every month, to consult and 
advise on the general concerns of the Institution; three of 
whom shall form a quorum. They shall report their proceed- 
ings to the Council. 

Sec. 4. There shall be one Counsellor resident in each of 
the United States, and one in Plymouth Old Colony, and one 
in Maine, with a right to a seat, and with power to act, in the 
meetings of the Council. It shall be the duty of these as well 
as of the other Counsellors to receive communications from 
members of the Society and others, and forward them to the 
President. These Counsellors are also to receive such com- 
munications to its members as may be sent to their care by 
the officers of the Society, and dispose of them as may be 
requested. They are likewise to ad\ise by letter to the 
President, or one of the Corresponding Secretaries, concerning 
any matters interesting to the Society; to use their efi'orts to 
gain information of the antiquities of the country, receive 
such articles as can be obtained, and forward them to the 
President, or one of the officers appointed to receive and for- 
ward articles presented to the Society. 



Meeting of January i8, 1815 73 

Article III 

Sec, I. There shall be one Recording Secretary, one or 
more Assistant Recording Secretaries, and three Correspond- 
ing Secretaries. 

Sec. 2. The Recording Secretary shall be Keeper of the 
Seal, the Charter, and Records. It shall be his duty to 
attend all the meetings of the Society and Council, and to 
make records of all their proceedings; and he shall keep on 
file all letters and papers respecting the Society, under the 
direction of the Council. 

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the Corresponding Secre- 
taries to receive and read all communications made to the 
Society; and to manage, under the direction of the Council, 
or either of the Subcouncils, all the correspondence of the 
Society. They shall, in books provided for the purpose, k^ep 
copies of all letters written for the Society; and shall file all 
letters and papers for. the Society, to them directed, and de- 
liver over the same, with the letter books, when filled, to the 
Librarian, under the direction of the Council. 

Article IV 

There shall be a Treasurer, who shall give such security 
as the President and Council shall require, for the faithful 
performance of his trust. It shall be his duty to call on the 
members and others for all dues to the Society; to receive 
and keep all monies and evidences of property belonging to 
the Society; to pay out to the order of the President and 
Council; to keep a record of his receipts and payments, ex- 
hibit the same, and settle with a Committee which shall be 
annually appointed for this purpose: And he shall put the 
money out to interest, under the direction of the Council. 

Article V 

There shall be a Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, who shall 
give bonds to the satisfaction of the President and Coimcil 
for the faithful performance of his trust. He shall receive and 
have in his custody all books, papers, and productions of 
nature and art, the property of the Society. These he shall 
arrange in classes, and register in a book, with a proper de- 
scription of each article, and the donor's name, when the 
same shall be a present; frequently examine the whole, and 
keep the same in good order. No book or article shall ever, 



74 American Antiquarian Society 

on any occasion, be loaned or taken from the Library or 
Cabinet, except by vote of the Council; and then the loan of 
such article shall be recorded, and a receipt given therefor 
by the borrower, to return the same within four weeks, or 
pay a forfeiture, such as by a vote of the Council shall be 
prescribed. No person shall be permitted to enter or remain 
in the Library, except in the presence of the Librarian or a 
member of the Council. 

Article VI 

There shall be appointed by the Society from its members, 
Ofl&cers, one or more in each of the United States, whose duty 
it shall be to Receive and Preserve articles presented to the 
Society, till he can communicate to the President such infor- 
mation concerning them as he shall obtain, with the names 
of the persons presenting them, and to execute the orders of 
the President respecting them. These shall be called Re- 
ceiving Officers. 

Article VII 

There shall be annually two stated meetings of the Society, 
viz. one in Boston, on the twenty third day of October, the 
day on which Columbus first discovered America; and when 
the same shall fall on Sunday, then the meeting shall be 
holden on the Monday following — the other in Worcester, 
on the last Thursday in June. At the annual meeting in 
October shall be chosen, by ballot, all the officers of the Society, 
to serve during the year thence following, and until others 
are chosen. At this meeting a publick address shall be de- 
livered by a member appointed by the Society, or the Council, 
unless when the Society shall otherwise determine. 

Article VIII 

A Committee of three members shall be chosen annually, 
to be known by the name of the Committee of Nominations, 
to whom all nominations shall be submitted, and if approved 
shall be by them submitted to the Society, who shall proceed 
to ballot; and if the candidate obtains two thirds of the votes 
given in, he shall be constituted a member. Every new 
member shall be notified of his election by a printed letter, 
signed by the Recording Secretary. 



Meeting of January i8, 1815 75 

Article IX 

Every member who shall produce a certificate to the Re- 
cording Secretary from the Treasurer, that he has paid six or 
more dollars to the funds of the Institution, shall be entitled 
to a diploma, to which the seal of the Society shall be affixed, 
signed by the President, and countersigned by the Recording 
Secretary, and shall be exempt from an annual tax. Every 
person residing in any part of the United States, who may in 
future be admitted into the Society, shall pay six dollars 
towards the funds for contingent expenses; and any indi- 
vidual, who is now a member, or shall in future be admitted, 
who shall neglect, for one year, the payment of six dollars, 
after having been called on, by the Treasurer in person, or by 
his written order, shall be considered as having abdicated his 
interest in the Society, and no longer a member. 

Article X 

All meetings of the Society, standing or special, shall be 
notified by the Recording Secretary, under the direction of 
the President and Council or one of the Subcouncils, in one 
newspaper published in Boston, and one in Worcester, four- 
teen days previous to the day of the meeting; in which noti- 
fication, the hour and place of the meeting shall be desig- 
nated; but any neglect in this particular shall not prevent a 
stated meeting, or annul its proceedings. 
« 

Article XI 

In case of the death, resignation, incapacity, or removal 
out of the state of Massachusetts of either of the Secretaries, 
or the Treasurer, or Librarian, the Council, or either of the 
Subcouncils, shall take charge of the ofl&cial books, papers 
and effects, belonging to the vacated office, one or more of 
them giving a receipt for the same; which books, &c., they 
may deliver to some member whom they may appoint to fill 
the office until the next meeting of the Society, when there 
shall be a new choice. 

Article XII 

No new law, or alteration of a standing law, shall hereafter 
be made, until it has been submitted to the Council, and by 
them proposed to the Society, 



76 American Antiquarian Society 

BY-LAWS 

I. The ballots for the election of officers, and for the ad- 
mission of members, shall be collected by a committee chosen 
by nomination, who shall assort and count the votes, and 
make report to the presiding ofi&cer, and he shall declare the 
result to the Society. 

II. The Secretary shall record, in a book for this purpose, 
the names of the members, and the times of their admission. 

III. Every officer chosen at a meeting in which he was not 
present, shall be notified of his election by the Recording 
Secretary. 

IV. The books in the Library shall be numbered, and 
marked with the words "American Antiquarian Society." 

V. All books and other articles belonging to the Society 
shall be appraised, and the price of each article shall be men- 
tioned in the catalogue. 

VI. A correct copy of the catalogue of books and other 
articles, shall be made out by the Librarian and Cabinet 
Keeper, or by a committee chosen by the Society for this 
purpose, which copy shall be kept by the President for the 
time being. And as additions are made to the Library and 
Cabinet, they shall be entered on the catalogue and on the 
copy thereof. 

VII. Every deed to which the common seal of the Society 
is affixed, shall be passed and sealed in Council, signed by the 
President, and attested by the Recording Secretary. 

VIII. There shall be a temporary place of deposit in 
Boston, and in such other places as the Council shall here- 
after direct, for the convenience of those who may be disposed 
to present to the Society any articles for its Library or Cabi- 
net. Every article so deposited, shall, as soon after as cir- 
cumstances will permit, be forwarded to the Library and 
Cabinet in Worcester. 

Voted, That under present circumstances, the Society not 
having sufficient information of proper characters, to be 
appointed Counsellors and Receiving Officers in all the states, 
and it being convenient to have such Counsellors and Officers 
appointed as soon as may be, the President be, and hereby is 
empowered, by advice of either of the Subcouncils, to appoint 
Counsellors and Receiving Officers in each of the States, 
wherein none has been chosen at this meeting, to be Coim- 



Meeting of June 2q, 1815 jy 

sellers or Receiving Officers, until the next annual meeting 
of the Society in October next.^ 



MEETING OF JUNE 29, 1815 

At a stated meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, 
at the Worcester Coffee House, and by adjournment at the 
Library Room of said Society,^ on Thursday, June 29th, 181 5. 
Doct'r Paine, chairman of the committee of ways and 
means, stated to the Society that said committee had taken 
the subject of their appointment partially into consideration, 
but were not prepared to make their report at this meeting. 

Several communications from members residing in various 
parts of the United States were read, among which was one 
"concerning the Primitive Inhabitants of North America," 
from Moses Fisk, Esqr., of Hilham, State of Tennessee. 

A communication from William Sheldon, Esq., of the 
Island of Jamaica, containing some particulars respecting the 
ancient state, and the antiquities of the Island of Jamaica, 
was laid before the Society. 

On motion, by Rev'd Doct'r Bancroft, Voted, That this 
meeting be adjourned to Thursday, the thirteenth day of 
July next, then to meet at the Library Room, at three o'clock 
in the afternoon. 

A true entry. 

Attest, 

Oliver Fiske, Rec. Sec'y. 

* This vote was offered by the committee who presented the revised laws 
and was printed with them, but it was not entered in the record book. In 
accordance with this vote, at a meeting of the " first Subcouncil " held February 
15, 1815, the Hon. DeWitt Clinton was appointed a Counsellor for the State 
of New York; Dr. John Wakefield Francis was appointed Receiving Ofiicer for 
New York City, and William Wilkinson Receiving Ofiicer for Providence. 

A temporary place of deposit for gifts to the Society was provided in Boston 
at No. 6 Marlborough Street in charge of I. Thomas, Jun. 

- In his diary, Isaiah Thomas records under date of June 5, 1815, "Put the 
room in the Office in order for a part of the A. A. Library." This entry re- 
ferred to his old printing office which stood north of his house. It is probable, 
however, that the meetings of the Society were held in the library room of 
Thomas's house until the erection of the library building in 182 1. 



78 American Antiquarian Society 



MEETING OF JULY 13, 1815 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society by 
adjournment, at the Library Room in Worcester, July 13th, 
181 5, the following gentlemen, having been approbated by 
the committee of nominations, were balloted for, and unani- 
mously elected members of the Society, viz. 

The Hon'ble Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Maryland. 
The Right Rev'd John Carroll, of Baltimore, Maryland. 
WiLLLUi Coleman, Esq., of New York. 
The Hon'ble Davh) Daggett, of New Haven, Connecticut. 
The Hon'ble John Eager Howard, of Baltimore, Maryland. 
The Hon'ble Daniel Carthy, of Newbern, North Carolina. 
The Hon'ble James A. Bayard, of Wilmington, Delaware. 
The Hon'ble James McHenry, of Baltimore, Maryland. 
Alexander Contee Hanson, Esq., of Georgetown, Maryland. 
The Hon'ble Robert Goodloe Harper, of Baltimore, Maryland. 
The Hon'ble Richard Stockton, of Princeton, New Jersey. 
The Hon'ble James Burrill, of Providence, Rhode Island. 
The Hon'ble Richard Jackson, of Providence, Rhode Island. 
The Hon'ble Elisha R. Potter, of South Kingstown, Rhode Island. 
The Hon'ble William Hunter, of Newport, Rhode Island. 
Samuel Ward, Esq., of Greenwich, Rhode Island. 
The Hon'ble Daniel Lyman, of Providence, Ch'f. Justice of Rh. 

Island. 
Samuel G. Arnold, Esq., of Providence, Rh. Island. 
WiLKiNS Updike, Esq., of South Kingstown, Rh. Island. 
Moses Brown, Esq., of Providence, Rh. Island. 
The Rev'd Asa Messer, D.D., President of Brown Univ'y, Providence. 
Roger Alden, Esq., of Meadville, Pennsylvania. 
Hon. Jesse Moore, of Meadville, Pennsylvania. 
Rev'd Robert Johnston, of Meadville, Pennsylvania. 
Dr. Thomas Smith, of FrankUn, Pennsylvania. 
Rev'd William Speer, of Greenburgh, Penn. 
Rev'd Samuel Porter, of Greenburgh, Penn. 
JuDAH Colt, Esqr., of Erie, Penn. 

Rev'd Matthew Brown, Pres't Washington College, Penn. 
Rev'd Andrew Wylie, President of Jetferson College, Penn. 
Rev'd Jereml\h Atwater, Pres't of Dickinson College, Penn. 
Rev'd Francis Herron, Pittsburg, Penn. 
The Hon'ble James Moss, of Pittsburg, Penn. 
Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq., of Pittsburg, Penn. 
Rev'd Robert Patterson, of Pittsburg, Penn. 
Cap't Abraham R. Woolley, of Pittsburg, Penn., Fort Fayette. 
Rev'd James Blythe, of Transylvania, Kentucky. 
The Hon'ble Charles Humphrey Atherton, of Amherst, New 

Hampshire. 
Jasper H. Livingston, Esq., of the Island of Jamaica. 
The Hon'ble Timothy Pitkin, of Farmington, Connecticut. 
Roderick Mackenzie, Esq., of Lower Canada. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1815 79 

Samuel Tenney, Esq., of Exeter, New Hampshire. 

The Hon'ble John Randolph, of Roanoke, Virginia. 

Rev'd John H. Rice, of Richmond, Virginia. 

George Washington Parke Custis, Esq., of Arlington, Dist. 

Columbia. 
Rev'd James Inglis, D.D., of Baltimore, Maryland. 
Charles Caldwell, M.D., Philadelphia, Penn. 
Washington Irving, Esq., of Philadelphia, Penn. 
Jacob Burnet, Esq., of Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Rev'd Joshua Lacey Wilson, of Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Rev'd Samuel Prince Robbins, of Marietta, Ohio. 
Habijah Weld Noble, Esq., of Marietta. 
Rev'd John McDowell, of Elizabeth, New Jersey. 
LeBaron Bradford, Esq., of Plymouth, Mass., [declined]. 
Elkanah Watson, Esq., of Pittsfield, Mass. 
Rev'd Edward Everett, of Boston. 
Enos Bronson, Esq., of Philadelphia. 

The Hon'ble William Eustis, Minister at the Court of Holland. 
Rejoice Newton, Esq., of Worcester, Mass. 
The Hon'ble William Plumer, of Epping, N. Hampshire. 
Mathew Carey, of Philadelphia. 
Rev'd Gideon Blackburn, of Nashville, Tennessee. 
Rev'd Robert G. Wilson, of Chillicothe, Ohio. 
Rev'd James Culberton, of Zanesville, Ohio. 
Rev'd John Wright, of New Lancaster, Ohio. 
The Hon'ble Jeremiah Mason, of Portsmouth, N. Hamp. 
James Sheafe, Esq., of Portsmouth, N. Hamp. 
Levi Bartlett, Esq., of Concord, N. Hamp. 
Ichabod Tucker, Esq., of Salem, Mass'tts. 
Doct'r Nathaniel Appleton Haven, of Portsmouth, N. Hamp. 
Benj a. Abbot, L.L.D., of Exeter, N. Hamp. 
Nathan Guilford, Esq., of Woodford Co., Kentucky. 

A true entry, 

Attest, 

Oliver Fiske, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1815 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Society 
at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Monday, October 
23d 1815; Mr. N. G. Snelling was chosen Secretary pro tem. 
Ihe committee of ways and means made report.^ 
Voted, That the report be committed to the same committee 
tor the purpose of making application to the Congress of the 
Umted States, and the Legislature of this State for such 

B^I^^JfTv^^^'i^''^^ IS, 1815, is signed by WiUiam Paine, Edward 
Hangs and b. J. Prescott, and recommends a lottery in order to raise funds. 



8o • American Antiquarian Society 

grants of lands or assistance to the Society as the committee 
may think best. 

Voted, That Maj. Russell and Mr. Lowell be a committee to 
count and declare the votes for officers and members of the 
Society. 

The committee reported that the following gentlemen were 
unanimously elected officers of the Society for the ensuing 
year. 

President, Isaiah Thomas, Esq. 

ist Vice-PresH, William D. Peck, Esq. 

ad Vice-Pres't, William Paine, M.D. 

Hon Timothy Bigelow. 
Sub-council Benjamin Russell, Esq. 
for Boston Samuel J. Prescott, Esq. 

and vicinity, Rev'd William Bentley. 

IDr. Redford Webster. 

[Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Sub-council Hon. Edward Bangs. 
for Worcester Hon. William Stedman. 
and vicinity, Hon. Oliver Fisia:. 

iHoN. Nathaniel Paine. 
Recording Sec'y, Rejoice Newton, Esq. 
Assistant Sec'y, Ms.. Nathaniel G. Snelling. 

/- >. J- (Rev'd Thaddeus M. Harris. 

Corresponding Rev'd William Jenks 

secretaries, Isamuel MacGregor Burnside, Esq. 

Treasurer, Mr. Isaiah Thomas, Jun. 

Voted, That the Councillors for each State be appointed by 
the President and the gentlemen composing the Council for 
Worcester and its vicinity.^ 

* Mr. Jennison, under date of Oct. 20, had declined to be a candidate for 
this ofl&ce. 

* On Nov. 6, the Sub-Council took the following action: 

At a meeting of the Sub-Council for Worcester and its vicinity at the house 
of Isaiah Thomas, Esq., President,ion Monday evening, Nov. 6th, 1815 — Ap- 
pointed Counsellors for 

Vermont — Hon. Elijah Paine, LL.D., of WiUiamstown. 

New-Hampshire — Nathaniel Adams, Esq., Portsmouth. 

Rhode Island — Pardon Bowen, M.D., Providence. 

Connecticut — David Humphreys, LL.D., Humphreysville. 

New York — DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., New York. 

Pennsylvania — Charles Caldwell, M.D., Philadelphia. 

New Jersey — Samuel Miller, D.D., Princeton. 

Maryland — Hon. Charles Goldsborough, AnnapoUs. 

Virginia — George Washington Parke Custis Esq., Arlington. 

North Carolina — Col. Benjamin Hawkins. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1815 81 

Voted, That the Councillors for the Old Colony and District 
of Maine be now chosen by nomination. 

Hon. George Thacher was accordingly chosen for the Dis- 
trict of Maine and Kilborn Whitman, Esq., for the Old Colony. 

Voted, That the receiving officers for the several States be 
appointed by the President and Sub-council for Worcester 
and vicinity. 

The committee on the subject of Mounds, &c., in the 
Western Country made verbal report of progress, thro' 
Dr. Morse, one of the Committee. 

Voted, That a committee of two be chosen to settle the 
Treasurer's accounts. 

Hon. Josiah Bartlett and Mr. Nath'l G. Snelling were 
accordingly chosen. 

Voted, That the gentlemen composing the committee of 
nomination the year past be continued for the year ensuing, 
and that two members be chosen in addition to the same. 
Hon. Josiah Bartlett and Rev'd John Pierce were accordingly 
chosen. 

The committee on the subject of the seal reported progress.^ 

Voted, That the committee be continued and requested to 
make further inquiries. 

South Carolina — Hon. Langdon Cheves, Charleston. 
Tennessee — Moses Fisk, Esq. 

Mississippi Territory — Hon. Winthrop Sargent, Natchez. 
Louisiana — Hon. Eligius Fromentin, New Orleans. 
Ohio — Jacob BtrRNEX, Esq., Cincinnati. 

District West of the Allegany — Rev'd Timothy Alden, Meadville. 
Receiving Officers for 

Massachusetts — Isaiah Thomas, Jun., Esq., Boston. 
Rhode Island — Wili-iam Wilkinson, Esq., Providence. 
New York — John W. Francis, M.D., New York. 
Pennsylvania — Mathew Carey, Esq., Philadelphia. 

^ The report from the Society's files, is as follows: — 

The committee for the purpose of procuring a seal for the Society, respect- 
fully report, 

That they have caused a drawing of the seal to be made by Mr. Penniman, 
reduced from his original design. That on enquiry they find that the expense 
of a seal, with the device adopted by vote of the Society, will be much greater 
than was contemplated by the members present when the vote was passed. 
The committee having conferred with a Mr. Peasley, an artist reputed com- 
petent to works of the kind, he informed them that he could not undertake it 
for less than 50 dollars if in brass and 100 dollars if in steel, exclusive of the 
case and screw, which will be a further expense of from 40 to 50 dollars. 

The committee therefore have thought best to defer acting in their com- 
mission till further instructed by the Society. 

Boston, Oct'r 23d, 1815. ^'^ SnelSg " \ ^c^^^^^^- 



82 American Antiquarian Society 

The Society then proceeded to ballot for members and the 
following gentlemen were declared elected by the committee. 

Hon. Stephen Sewell, Esq., of Montreal, Canada. 

Hon. George Baxter Upham, Esq., Claremont, N. H. 

Samuel Fiske, Esq., Claremont, N. H. 

Hon. Caleb Ellis, Esq., Claremont, N. H. 

Hon. John Curtis Chamberlain, Charlestown, N. H. 

Hon. Benjamin J. Gilbert, Hanover, N. H. 

Samuel Eliot, Jr., Esq., Washington City. 

William Bowen, M.D., Providence, R. I. 

Henry A. S. Dearborn, Esq., Boston. 

Hon. Edward Sr. Loe Livermore, Boston. 

Rev'd Thomas Robbins, East Windsor, Conn, 

James Gushing Merrill, Esq., Boston. 

Samuel Finley Breese Morse, A.M., Charlestown, Mass. 

Voted, That the Society proceed to the choice of a com- 
mittee of publication — that the committee consist of three 
and that they be chosen by nomination. Rev'd Aaron Ban- 
croft, Rev'd WiUiam Bentley and Doct. William Paine were 
accordingly chosen. 

Voted, That the appointment of an orator for the next year 
be referred to the Council. 

Voted, That Maj. Russell be a committee to introduce the 
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company to the Society.^ 



Afternoon 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be presented to 
Doct. Paine for the Address to the Society this day, and that 
the President, Doct. Bancroft and Judge Bangs be a com- 
mittee for the purpose, and to request a copy for the press.^ 

Voted, That the President be a committee to express the- 
thanks of the Society to the Rev'd Mr. Bentley for his ser- 
vices this day. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the day the Gen- 

^ The meeting at the Chapel to listen to the annual address was attended 
by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, which led the procession 
from the Coffee House to the Chapel. One of the original "Order of Per- 
formances" is in the Society's files and is reprinted in the Transactions, vol. 9, 
p. 289. 

2 The address was printed, 1815, at Worcester, by William Manning in a 
pamphlet of 27 pages, including at the end the list of officers of the Society. 
The address is here reprinted after the records of this meeting. 



Address by William Paine, M.D. 83 

eral Court meet in Boston in the ensuing January, to meet at 
this place on that day at three o'clock, p.m. 
Exchange Coffee House, 
Boston, Oct. 23d, 181 5, 

Attest, 
N. G. Snelling, Sec^y pro tern. 
A true entry of the proceedings of the meeting as furnished 
by the Sec'y pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



ADDRESS BY WILLIAM PAINE, M.D. 

As the descendents of the Pilgrims, we meet, with pecuUar 
propriety, in this house, dedicated to the worship of God. 
The solemn prayers in which we have joined, and the impres- 
sive lessons read from the Bible, are calculated to establish 
on our minds a sense of our religious duties, which will not, 
I trust, be easily obliterated. Besides, to excite our feehng, 
the tomb of Johnson is near us. Johnson, respectable for 
his talents, and prominent for his wealth, was amongst the 
early emigrants, and was justly esteemed for his piety and 
wisdom. With respect to New England, he was an enthusiast. 
On his death bed, he rejoiced that he had lived to see a church 
of Christ gathered in America. He was the idol of the people; 
for they ordered that their bodies, as they died, should be 
buried around his; and this was the reason of appropriating, 
for a place of burial, the ground adjoining this Chapel, which 
was his domain. Surely he must have been a man of most 
extraordinary address and suavity of manners, to have enabled 
him to gain, and retain whilst he lived, the entire good will 
of the people. His wife, the lady Arabella, was in the dawn 
of life, with all its fragrance round her, when she left, says 
Purchas, a paradise of plenty and pleasure, in the family of 
her father, the Earl of Lincoln, and dared a wilderness of 
wants; and, though supported by great fortitude, she was 
unable to resist their pressure, or surmount the difficulties 
she was surrounded with, and died at Salem, soon after her 
arrival. What feelings, what reflections, does this object tend 
to excite! I could wish to retain all the sensations I now 
experience, and to treasure up, amidst these scenes, something 
of that melancholy feeling which enchants me! Yes, I love 
to retire back to past ages. 



84 American Antiquarian Society 

This is our third anniversary. It is unnecessary — it 
would be superfluous — at this time, to give the origin, and 
recapitulate the objects of this Society. They were declared 
in the Preamble to the Act of Incorporation; they have been 
fully stated in the luminous Communication of our President, 
and clearly and ably detailed in the first and second Address 
delivered before you. This ground has been already gleaned, 
and I find it difficult to gather a straw for my sheaf. But 
with satisfaction I am able to congratulate you upon the 
general success of the Institution. Since our last meeting, 
we requested, and have obtained, from the Government of 
the United States, and from the Government of this Common- 
wealth; copies of their Journals and Publick Documents, 
which have been received by our President, for the use of the 
Society. Their ready compliance is peculiarly gratifying, and 
induces us to cherish the expectation that we shall be deemed 
worthy of their future patronage. We have Hkewise had 
many respectable names added to the column of our members; 
many books to our Library, and articles to our Museum. 
The present state of the Institution may satisfy its members, 
that it is permanently estabhshed; that it is destined to be 
useful, and will have the countenance of the genuine lovers 
of history and literature. The only check to the rapid suc- 
cess of the Society, is our poverty. We want a house, and 
a pennanent fund for the support of our Librarian and Cab- 
inet Keeper. How to obtain that house and this fund, I 
know not, 

I wish it to be distinctly understood, that the American 
Antiquarian Society is founded on the most liberal prin- 
ciples — is of no sect or party — has no local views — it 
embraces the continent. It solicits, and would gratefully 
receive, communications from every part of the world, which 
have a tendency to elucidate the events of past ages, or ex- 
cite a spirit of research for information which would be con- 
ducive to the happiness of the present or subsequent age. 
It is to be wished, that every member of this Society would 
endeavour, by the most active exertions, to add something 
to the common stock of antiquarian literature; and may we, 
my respectable associates, never lose sight of the truly valuable 
purposes of our Institution. I wish, particularly, to urge the 
propriety, nay, the necessity, of procuring and preserving every 
antient manuscript and book of importance. And for this 
reason — that no one thing can so faithfully paint the state of 



Address by William Paine, M.D. 85 

society, as such documents; for the dialect and orthography 
of languages are continually fluctuating. 

Having made these introductory remarks, you will have 
the goodness to indulge me in an address, diffusive, but not 
foreign to the objects of the Society. 

I presume not to instruct, but I wish to remind you, in 
a summary manner, of the state of Europe at the discovery 
of America by Columbus; to point out the pleasures and 
advantages which result from the study of history; and 
notice the first European colony in New-England. 

It has been observed by the historians of the fifteenth 
century, that, during that period, mankind made greater 
progress in exploring the state of the habitable world, than 
in all the ages which had then elapsed. At this time, the 
revival of letters, the reformation in rehgion, and the revo- 
lution in the modes of learning and philosophy, gave mankind 
a higher sense of their importance. In almost every part of 
Europe, efforts were then making for the establishment of 
civil and religious liberty. Circumstances like these, taking 
place at that period, concurred to render the discovery of 
America an illustrious epoch in the history of the world. 
During the last seven years of that century, a New World 
was discovered in the West. In the East, unknown seas and 
countries were found out, and a communication, long de- 
sired, but hitherto concealed, was opened, by doubling the 
Cape of Good Hope between Europe and India. In com- 
parison with events so wonderful and unexpected, all that had 
been before deemed great or splendid, faded and disappeared. 
This discovery awakened curiosity, and enlarged the ideas 
and desires of men. Vast objects now presented themselves. 
The human mind, excited and interested by the prospect, 
engaged with ardour in pursuit of them, and exerted its 
active powers in a new direction; the spirit of enterprise 
began to operate extensively, and many were ready to test 
the truth of a probable theory by the most dauntless experi- 
ments. 

By the universal consent of nations, this new quarter of the 
world has been called America. The bold pretensions of a 
fortunate imposter robbed Columbus of a distinction that 
belonged to him. The name of Amerigo has supplanted that 
of Columbus. It is now too late to redress this act of in- 
justice — it has received the sanction of Time. 

It is a very singular fact, that the three great European 



86 American Antiquarian Society 

powers which formerly possessed ahnost all the New World, 
were indebted for the discovery of their American possessions 
to Italians: — Spain to Columbus, a Genoese; France to 
Verazzano, a Florentine; England to the Cabots, Venetians. 
The Italians at that period, in point of maritime knowledge 
and extensive experience in navigation, were unquestionably 
very superiour to the rest of Europe. Of the descendants of 
Columbus and Verazzano I am ignorant; but the name of 
Cabot is still heard amongst us. To me, it was ever dear! 
and one of his descendants still exists, who has been as active 
in saving, as his ancestors were in discovering a country. 

The character of Columbus has been handed down to us in 
a manner well calculated to arrest our attention, and excite 
our admiration. Few men have distinguished themselves by 
greater ardour and perseverance. Possessed of a vigorous 
mind, he was indefatigable in his pursuits. His life has fre- 
quently been written; yet I have thought the following con- 
cise biographical notice of him not out of place. 

He is represented as grave, though courteous in his de- 
portment, circumspect in his words and actions, irreproachable 
in his morals, and exemplary in his attention to all the duties 
and functions of rehgion. He joined to the ardent temper 
and inventive genius of a projector, virtues of another species, 
which are rarely united with them. He possessed a thorough 
knowledge of mankind, an insinuating address, a patient per- 
severance in executing any plan, the most perfect government 
of his own passions, and a talent of acquiring ascendancy 
over other men. All these qualities, which formed him for 
command, were accompanied with that superiour knowledge 
of his profession, which begets confidence in times of danger 
and difi&culty. After much thought and great study, he ma- 
tured his plan, which resulted from diligent inquiry and 
patient comparison; and being well convinced of its practi- 
cability, his enthusiasm was not to be cooled by delay, or 
damped by disappointment. Any man of less ardour would 
have abandoned his plan; for his discouragements were 
various and repeated. 

But the brave and virtuous conquer difficulties by daring 
to oppose them; and nature seems to have given him that 
elasticity of mind which rises higher at the rebound. Twenty 
years was this great man employed in preparing for this 
voyage, which he completed in thirty-six days, without any 
extraordinary circumstance intervening, excepting that the 



Address by William Paine, M.D. 87 

variation of the magnetick needle was, to their great surprize, 
noticed. In all probability, we are indebted for the discovery 
of America at that period, to the firmness of Isabella, Queen 
of Spain, in the support of Columbus. Whilst she lived, 
Columbus had a friend who was ever ready to throw her 
shield before him for his protection, and which she was fre- 
quently obHged to do. On this illustrious woman the Spanish 
historians dehght to bestow the highest encomiums. They 
represent her no less eminent for virtue than wisdom; and 
whether she is considered as a Queen, wife, or mother, she is 
still entitled to the highest praise. — It is painful to reflect 
on the subsequent misfortunes of Columbus. His elevation 
to high rank, and the hereditary honours which he obtained 
from the court of Spain, excited envy, and created enemies, 
which laid him in chains, and embittered the last moments of 
his life. — It is not rank, it is character alone, that interests 
posterity; and the name of Columbus will command the 
admiration of ages, and probably outhve the power of the 
kingdom that he aggrandized by his discoveries. Over his 
name oblivion will never throw her mantle. — Peace to his 
manes! 

As there is no pursuit more delightful than the study of 
history, so there is no history so necessary and useful as that 
of our own country, which may be accurately traced, from its 
first discovery to this day, and whatever relates to it may be 
ascertained by the most authentick documents. Not so the 
history of ancient nations, which is so much involved in fable, 
that its study yields to the inquiring mind but little satisfac- 
tion. Its pages are read, but read rather to gratify curiosity, 
than to gain instruction. Indeed, we meet with such ex- 
traordinary events in the annals of mankind, as make us fre- 
quently doubt the most authentick history. In opposition to 
the above remark, I must except the history of the Jews. 
With respect to the writings of the Jews, Wakefield observes, 
that it is altogether undeniable, and it is a truth of the ut- 
most weight and magnitude, that our accumulated dis- 
coveries in science and philosophy, and all our progress in 
other parts of knowledge, have not enabled the wisest of the 
moderns to excel the noble sentiments conveyed in the didac- 
ticks and the decretional compositions of the Old Testament — 
compositions, many of which existed, without dispute, be- 
fore the earliest writings of heathen antiquity, and at a period, 
when even those illustrious instructers of mankind, the Greeks 



88 American Antiquarian Society 

and the Romans, were barbarous and unknown. I confess, 
it would gratify me much, to be informed in what manner the 
contemners of the Jews and of the Mosaick system account 
for this singular phenomenon. 

It is to be regretted that liistorians and travellers have not 
taken the hero of Homer as their model. His advice to 
Ulysses, at the opening of the Odyssey, treasured up and 
attended to, would give authenticity to their narrations. 

" Wand'ring from dime to clime, observant stray'd, 
'Their maimers noted, and their states survey'd." 

Effectively, nothing is more instructive than history, if 
written with useful views, with good sense, and mixed with 
moral reflections given in few words, and rising naturally 
from facts. 

In all ages, mankind have had a great esteem and venera- 
tion for antiquity. No object operates more powerfully on 
that curiosity which is the great excitement to knowledge, 
than antiquities of every species. If some have followed 
this study with too much minuteness, or, impelled by an en- 
thusiasm naturally growing out of a favourite pursuit, have 
rated antiquities above their just value, their weakness can- 
not attaint the good sense of others, nor derogate from the 
advantages of liberal and rational inquiries. By the study 
of antiquity, history is frequently explained, and sometimes 
corrected. Facts and manners are rendered more distinct, 
and their impressions become infinitely stronger and more 
lasting. Yet we must consider Antiquarianism as the younger 
sister of History, less sedate and more fanciful, and apt to 
be enamoured of the face of Time, b}' looking so frequently 
upon it. But let not that be the conduct of her more sober 
disciples. Let not the sensible antiquary disgrace himself 
and his profession, by admiring greatly, and applauding fondly, 
what is only antient. The pencil of age may justly be al- 
lowed to. throw a shade of respectability, and to diffuse an 
air of venerableness over the productions of very antient 
art. And we may appeal to the native feehngs of every in- 
telligent beholder for the truth of this observation. But 
this is all that can be allowed to the mere influence of time; 
and the antiquary that once oversteps this reasonable limit, 
sacrifices the dignity of sentiment to the dreams of anti- 
quarianism, and gives up the realities of history to the fable 
of imagination. But we ought not, from the abuse of a 



Address by William Paine, M.D. 89 

science, to be induced to neglect its application to rational 
and useful purposes; and that such purposes may be ac- 
complished by the study of antiquities, is sufi&ciently evinced 
by the valuable information which has been drawn from this 
source, respecting the history, laws, rehgion, manners and 
literature of a great number of antient nations. This study 
includes a vast variety of important particulars, too numerous 
to be mentioned on this occasion; although it is to be re- 
gretted, that on many branches of inquiry which come within 
the province of the antiquary, he must content himself with 
conjecture and hypothesis, instead of the certain testimony 
of fact. Competent and credible evidence ought, therefore, 
to be insisted on by every student of antiquity, and his vigi- 
lance against deception should be constant and unremitted. 

The study of antiquity will ever rank amongst the higher 
pleasures of human life, and its real votaries amongst the 
most happy of intellectual beings. Fortunately, this is one 
of those few pursuits, in which delight and instruction are 
most happily united. No study affords a more ample store 
of varied information and Hberal knowledge; and its re- 
sources may be said with propriety to be inexhaustible. The 
interesting objects which open to the view of the antiquary, 
replenish his mind with new ideas; and such pursuits make 
life pass as pleasantly as the uncertainty of human events 
allows to man. In tracing the productions of nature, and 
the origin and refinement of art, the antiquary enjoys the 
highest pleasure, and is never wearied in exploring the ''days 
of other years," over which fancy delights to hover. Who 
can possess the faculty of thinking, and not wish to know the 
origin and the end of this world? 

Permit me to notice our ancestors. Persecuted at home, 
they sought and obtained protection in the United Provinces. 
Yet the love of country was so strong, that they preferred 
being under the government of England; and, therefore, 
those of them who did not emigrate to this country, returned 
to Pl3anouth, one hundred and twenty eight years after the 
discovery of America. When we speak of our ancestors, we 
need not blush. Indeed, I feel an honest pride in thinking 
of them. Many of them were respectable in point of property, 
many well educated, indeed learned, and all of them pious 
and exemplary. At the time of the emigration of our fore- 
fathers, bigotry and blind zeal prevailed amongst Christians 
of every sect and persuasion. Each denied to the other liberty 



QO American Antiquarian Society 

of conscience, which all had a right to enjoy. To this we 
must ascribe the settlement and the present flourishing state 
of New England. That our ancestors were superstitious, I 
can easily believe; but that they, after having so severely 
suffered under persecution, should themselves become vindic- 
tive and zealous persecutors of the Quakers and other sectaries, 
can scarcely be credited. Yet such was the fact, and so says 
the record. This example teaches us how far a religious zeal, 
which covers the greatest crimes with the sacred name of 
divinity, is capable of misleading the mind of man. There 
is an observation of the justly celebrated author of the ' Spirit 
of Laws,' which is very appHcable to our ancestors. He 
says, "It is a principle, that every reUgion which is perse- 
cuted, becomes itself persecuting; for as soon as, by some 
accidental turn, it arises from persecution, it attacks the 
religion which persecuted it."* Of the truth of the above 
observation the page of history furnishes many melancholy 
proofs. But, who is perfect? Man is invariably the same, 
although his genius and faculties are diversified with infinite 
shades. The same passions now actuate him, by which he 
has been distinguished from his creation, and these passions 
are common to him, in all stages of society. They have 
caused the human heart to throb alike, under the steel corselet 
of the fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the eighteenth, 
and the lighter habiliments of the present day. The only 
essential difi"erence between the antient and the modern man 
is, that education and the benign influence of the Christian 
religion, have enabled the latter more effectually to discipline 
his passions; and individuals at this time feel themselves in 
a higher degree responsible to society than formerly, for their 
orderly behaviour. Excuse this digression. I now return 
to notice our ancestors. 

The hand of God seems to have been most wonderfully 
displayed, in preparing the way for the establishment of an 
European colony in this part of North America. At the 
time our EngUsh ancestors arrived, the Indian tribes on the 
seacoast had been greatly thinned by a fatal epidemick, and 
the fierce s,\)\xit of the survivors seems to have been restrained 
by its pestilential influence on the animal system. From 
this cause, the new colony in a less degree awakened the 

* I was reminded, since the delivery of this Address, by a distinguished 
antiquary, that William Penn and Roger Williams ought to be considered 
as exceptions to this remark. 



Address by William Paine, M.D. 91 

jealousy of the original inhabitants. The settlement, no 
doubt, was facilitated in consequence of this destructive sick- 
ness; for it is certain no opposition was made to the landing 
of the Pilgrims from Holland. On the contrary, the Indians 
readily reciprocated the friendly offers made them by the 
white men. They imparted to them the knowledge they 
possessed in the culture of their corn, and the simple means 
they used, to sustain life; gave them a part of their scanty 
allowance of provisions; bartered with them furs for their 
European goods; and sold them lands for a possession. 
Had a single tribe viewed, at first, their European visitors as 
invaders of their country, and entertained jealousies of their 
increasing numbers, influence and power, they might, and 
probably would, have exterminated them on their first landing. 
But jealousies of this nature did not prevail amongst the 
Indians in any very dangerous form, until the colony had 
gained strength, and were able to divert the machinations, 
or repel the efforts of the savages for their destruction. And 
when a confederacy of the Indian tribes was formed, which 
appeared to threaten the very existence of the infant colony, 
the arm of God was their shield. At the expense of many 
lives, they broke the plans of their enemy, defeated them in 
their most secure haunts, and drove those that escaped the 
slaughter of the battle, spiritless from the land of their fathers. 
Their persons now appear not, their names are not spoken in 
the land which they once claimed as their inheritance, and 
probably no individual can now be found who understands 
the Indian idiom, in which our apostle Eliot translated the 
Bible. Yet few, very few, says Charlevoix, comparatively 
speaking, perished by war; but they have wasted, they have 
mouldered aAvay, they have disappeared. 

Whilst the retrospection of the interesting events which 
took place amongst the early settlers of this country, teaches 
us to look with veneration on the wonders which God did 
for their protection, we must commiserate the sufferings, and 
the extinction almost, of the Indian nations through an im- 
mense extent of country. It is true these nations were 
savages; they were destitute of industry and providence; 
but they were patient under the severest privations, and bore, 
occasionally, with fortitude the greatest fatigue. They pos- 
sessed not the comforts of improved society; at the same 
time, the evils of luxury and habitual intemperance were 
unknown to them. To quarrels respecting property, they 



92 American Antiquarian Society 

were strangers. The God of Nature had stocked the forest 
with animals, and filled the lakes and streams with fish; 
these were the property of all. Upon the banks of rivers, 
and on the shores of the sea, they erected their temporary 
shelters, and partook of the blessing of the Parent of Nature. 
They were content with their mode of life; they coveted no 
better. They were ignorant of many of the sublime doctrines 
of religion; but they had some apprehension of the Great 
Spirit, and they paid their adoration to him, by such sacrifices 
as they thought would be acceptable. Their passions were not 
discipHned by the precepts of religion, nor regulated by the 
laws of a well ordered society. An enemy they condemned 
to torture; with a friend and a stranger, they were ready to 
divide their last morsel. Such was the race of men that in- 
habited this land, when it was discovered by the European 
adventurers ; and in them we have a perfect picture of savage 
life. The character of the Indians seems to have been well 
understood by our ancestors, who noticed that they possessed 
extraordinary valour, but without conduct; and the love of 
freedom, without the spirit of union. They knew not the 
modes and habits that prevailed in the Old World, and they 
did not generally foresee the consequence of the settlement of 
white people amongst them. Instead, therefore, of uniting 
to repel or destroy the new colony, they rather aided, as we 
have seen, their settlement. But one amongst them arose, 
who had discernment to comprehend the interest of his nation, 
and to predict danger from the permanent estabhshment of 
foreigners. Perhaps those who handed down to us the his- 
tory of King Philip's War, bore a part in its terrours, its 
dangers, or losses; every thing, therefore, which reaches us 
respecting him, passes through the medium of prejudice. 
But could we survey the actions of King Philip with the eye 
of impartiality, his character would excite our veneration, 
and his misfortunes call forth our commiseration. PhiHp, 
with the penetration of a statesman, saw the fatal policy of 
one individual tribe inviting the aid of the white men to con- 
quer another, and predicted the successive ruin of the whole. 
With the feelings of a patriot, he adopted measures to drive 
from his country the common enemy; and with the resolution 
of a hero, he attempted their execution. By his lively repre- 
sentations, he formed distant and unfriendly tribes into an 
alliance, and made them parties in a war of extermination. 
Bloody, and for a long time doubtful, was the contest which 



Address by William Paine, M.D. 93 

ensued; but the whites ultimately prevailed. The patriot 
and the hero fell, and with him expired the hope of his country. 
— Thus, whilst we are filled with admiration at the rapid 
growth of our country and the many improvements of our 
people, we cannot but mourn at the recollection that these 
are founded upon the ruin of another, which had a prior and 
a more natural right to the soil. 

May the blessing of God descend, and rest upon the Indian 
nations which yet exist within the limits of the United States! 
May he succeed the laudable attempts which are made to 
bring them within the pale of civilized hfe, and give them the 
comforts of improved society. May their minds be imbued 
with the mild and peaceable spirit of the Gospel; and, under 
the influence of Christianity, may their hearts be softened 
and purified. 

The zeal and courage by which our ancestors were ani- 
mated, and the constancy with which they pursued their 
plan of emigrating to America, that they might here enjoy 
liberty of conscience and the blessing of freemen, is truly 
wonderful. And it is impossible, when we reflect, not to 
applaud the resolution with which it was executed. Repre- 
sent to your imagination the feehngs of those individuals, 
who were struggling with the affection which they bore to 
their friends and their native country, and with the desire 
to remove to far distant shores, that in solitude they might 
enjoy rehgious freedom, which was so unjustifiably denied them 
at home. Bound by a thousand ties to the spot in which they 
first drew their breath, attached to the place of their resi- 
dence by the endearing connexions of relations and friends, 
by worldly ease and competency, how strong must have been 
the motives which could have overpowered these affections — 
how urgent the causes which prevailed on the minds of these 
families, and induced them to break asunder their ties, to 
embark on an almost untried ocean, and to settle in a wilder- 
ness, where they were exposed to the fierceness of savage 
tribes, the rage of wild beasts, and the innumerable hard- 
ships of a new world! In all these trying scenes, our fathers 
trusted in God! His arm protected them amidst the perils 
of the ocean and the hazards of the wilderness. 

The hardships and sufferings of the first settlers proved 
fatal to many of the Plymouth band; yet the survivors were 
strengthened by the arrival of new settlers. As the same 
cause which led to emigration continued to operate in England, 



94 American Antiquarian Society 

fresh numbers were arriving every year, and multitudes, 
driven by oppression, found safety and protection in 
America. 

Soon after, Massachusetts, and various other colonies, 
were established. The foundation of the colony of Massa- 
chusetts was laid in the year 1628. From that period to 
1637, twenty one thousand two hundred men, women and 
children arrived as passengers in New England. In all 
probability, the population would have been greater, if the 
English government had not interposed its authority to pre- 
vent further emigration. "The wilderness and solitary places 
were made glad for them, and the desert blossomed as a 
rose." "A little one has become a thousand, a small one a 
great Nation." 

In the year 1745, a remarkable interposition of Providence 
took place in favour of our country; a year in which the 
military spirit of New England was most successfully dis- 
played, by the conquest of Louisbourgh, in conjunction with 
a fleet of British ships. England and France being at war, 
the General Court of Massachusetts, by a majority of one 
vote, resolved to attempt its conquest. Louisbourgh was a 
strong town on the Island of Cape Breton, which the French 
had been more than twenty years fortifying ; and it had cost 
the crown of France more than six millions of dollars. This 
fortress, for its strength, was called the Gibraltar of America; 
in six weeks it surrendered to the forces of New England. 
When the troops entered the town, and examined its strength, 
they were surprised at their own prowess; and the inhabi- 
tants of our country with grateful hearts acknowledged the 
good providence of God, in the preservation of their army 
and the wonderful success of their arms. Sir William Pep- 
PERELL, who was the commander in chief, says, in his letter 
to Governour Shirley, "The Almighty of a truth has been 
with us." 

It has been generally considered, that the jealousy of the 
parent state was excited by this brilHant achievement. 

The French government, after the capture of Louisbourgh, 
became greatly alarmed for their colonies which bordered on 
New England. Therefore, in the next year, 1746, they fitted 
out a most formidable armament, consisting of twenty ships 
of war, and more than 100 transports, filled, it is reported, 
with 10,000 disciplined troops, with a profusion of every 
kind of mihtary store. The conquest of New England was 



Address by William Paine, M.D. 95 

the open and avowed object of this expedition. When the 
news arrived that this armament was approaching our coast, 
and that a British force for our protection was not expected, 
fear and consternation pervaded our land. The country pos- 
sessed not adequate means of defence against the assault of 
such a force. In this case the protecting hand of God saved 
them. Ere the enemy reached the American seas, the French 
fleet was visited by a fatal sickness. Thousands of their 
men died, and the survivors became weak and spiritless. 
In this enfeebled state, the armament was overtaken by a most 
violent storm, and in the tempest was dispersed, and in conse- 
quence the expedition was totally defeated. The commander 
in chief died through vexation, or by poison administered by 
his own hand, and the second in command threw himself on 
his sword. In a shattered and dispersed condition the re- 
maining armament returned to the French ports, and the 
English colonies were relieved from their apprehensions. 

Never, observes the late Dr. Belknap, never was the hand 
of Providence more visible, than on this occasion. Never 
was a disappointment more severe on the side of an enemy, 
or a deliverance more complete without human aid, in favour 
of any country. Need I recount the favour of God to our 
country in their subsequent conflicts with the French and 
Indian nations? These are more than can be numbered. 

Less necessary is it to place before you the many signal 
favours during the revolutionary war with Great Britain. 
Baffled and discouraged in her scheme of subjugation, she 
proffered, and we accepted, the rich blessings of peace on the 
basis of national independence. You well remember, or your 
fathers have told you of the names, the trials, and the suf- 
ferings of those days, and the joys, the congratulations, and 
the devout gratitude, with which peace was received. The 
Lord of Hosts, who has so often appeared for the salvation 
of our country, Hves, and is the same to-day, yesterday, and 
forever. The superintendence which he exerted over our 
fathers, is extended to us. Let us be attentive to the duties 
required of us, and then may we expect his protection. Let 
us call into remembrance, frequently, past times and events. 
Let us study the character of our American ancestors, and 
we shall find, that piety and patriotism, righteousness and 
sobriety, were the pecuUar quaUfications which rendered them 
the object of divine favour and protection. 

''Rem.ember the days of old; consider the years of many 



96 American Antiquarian Society 

generations; ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy 
elders, and they will tell thee." 

"Though thy beginning was small, thy latter end should 
greatly increase." 

"For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare 
thyself to the search of their fathers." 

"For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because 
our days upon earth are a shadow." 

"Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words 
out of their heart?" 



Gentlemen of the Antient and Honourable 
Artillery Company* 

AS an individual (and I am positive I speak the sentiments 
of the Society) I am very much gratified by the honour you 
have done us, in meeting on this occasion. This event is 
pecuHarly interesting to every American. Your corps is the 
oldest in America, and it this day unites with the first and 
the only incorporated Antiquarian Society on the continent, 
in celebrating the day on which our beloved country was 
discovered. 

A most unequivocal evidence of your usefulness, and of 
the honourable principles by which your corps has been con- 
ducted, is, that it has existed one hundred and seventy seven 
years. I lind, however, that it has been twice interrupted in 
its regular annual meeting. The first was from 1686 to 1691. 
during the administration of Sir Edmund Andross; and 
again, during the revolutionary war, from 1774 to 1786. 
Although many very important events have taken place in 
our country since the estabhshment of your corps, yet that 
has remained much the same. The motive for raising it was 
judicious, laudable and poHtical. Our ancestors, with a fore- 
sight that invariably marked their conduct, early noticed 
the necessity of estabhshing a reputable mihtary corps, to 
keep ahvc the knowledge possessed by many of the early 
emigrants. This gave rise to your company, which has given 
to our country many valuable and distinguished officers. Its 
reputation to this day has remained unsulKed. Its ranks 
have been filled by citizens of respectabiHty. It has ever 

* On this day, the Society was honoured by the attendance of the Antient 
and Honourable Artillery Company, who led the procession. 



Meeting of January i8, 1816 97 

been considered as an excellent military school, in which its 
members are perfected in tacticks and correct discipline. 

To belong to a corps thus distinguished, must be highly- 
reputable to the man and to the soldier. I have some pride 
and great satisfaction in saying, that my grandfather, who 
resided at Worcester, had the honour to command the Antient 
and Honourable Artillery Company in the year 1736. To 
preserve and protect its honours, must excite the ambition 
and vigilance of the individuals which compose it. To hand 
down its character and its rights unimpaired, must be the 
wish of all. To you, Gentlemen, are committed all its honours, 
its rights and privileges; and no doubt can be entertained of 
your wisdom to preserve, and your skill to protect them, for 
the benefit of your successors. 

Long may your corps continue to be the ornament and the 
pride of our country; and may our government be able to 
say, that so long as it exists, we can never want officers to 
head our armies, or men able and willing to repel invasion, 
execute the laws, and maintain publick order. 



MEETING OF JANUARY 10, 1816 

Meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at the 
Exchange Coffee House, Boston, January loth, 1816. 

On motion of the Rev'd Mr. Lowell — 

Voted, That Isaiah Thomas, Jun., be requested to officiate 
as Sec'y pro tem. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to Thursday the 
i8th inst. to meet at 4 o'clock p.m. at the Exchange Coffee 
House, Boston. 

I. Thomas, Jun., Rec'g Sec'y pro tem. 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by I. Thomas, 
Jun., Rec'g Sec'y pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JANUARY 18, 1816 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society at the 
Exchange Coffee House in Boston, Thursday, January i8th, 
1816 — 



98 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the Treasurer be requested to write to such 
members of the Society, within this Commonwealth, as have 
not paid their assessments, requesting them to pay in their 
assessments to the Treasury of the Society.^ 

Voted, That henceforth, the members of the Society, being 
in Boston or its immediate vicinity, shall have sent to them 
a written or printed notification of all meetings or adjourned 
meetings of the Society, hereafter to be holden in the town 
of Boston, in addition to the usual notice given in the public 
newspapers; on which notifications shall be mentioned the 
names of all the persons, who are candidates for admission 
as members at said meeting. 

Voted, That as the Capitol of the Commonwealth generally 
offers the best means of ascertaining the real character and 
standing of such persons as may be proposed for membership 
in this Society, and as the Society are desirous that the utmost 
circumspection should be used in the admission of members; 
no person shall hereafter be admitted as a member of this 
Society, unless he shall have stood in nomination at least 
six months prior to the time when the ballot on such nomina- 
tion shall be taken — and also for the reasons aforesaid, that 
no person shall be hereafter admitted a member of this 
Society, but at a meeting, or adjourned meeting of the Society, 
holden in the Town of Boston. 

N. G. Snelling, AssH Rec'g Sec'y. 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by the Assist- 
ant Recording Secretary. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JUNE 27, 1816 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Library-room in Worcester, on Thursday the 27th day 
of June A.D. 1816, at 3 o'clock p.m. 

The meeting was opened by the President in the chair. 

* In accordance with this vote the Treasurer had a formal request printed 
demanding payment of unpaid assessments, a specimen of which printed form 
is in the Society's possession. He later reported to the Society that " very few 
have paid attention to the polite hint given them." 



Meeting of October 2j, 1816 99 

Voted, That the Society proceed to choose a committee of 
arrangements for the next anniversary, to be held at Boston 
on the 23d of October next — 

DocT. Abraham R. Thompson. 1 

Mr. Nathaniel G. Snelling. [ Chosen. 

Charles P. Sxjmner, Esq. J 

Voted to adjourn.^ 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec^y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1816 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, October 23d, 
1816. 

Voted, that the Society proceed to the choice of ofi&cers for 
the year ensuing. 

Voted, That I. Thomas, Jun., be a committee to receive 
and declare the votes. 

It appeared that the following gentlemen were elected to 
the several offices affixed to their names. 

IsAL^H Thomas, Esq., President. 

Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, ist Vice-Pres't. 

Hon. Timothy Bigelow, 2d Vice-Pres't. 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins 

Hon. Francis Blake 

Hon. Edward Bangs 

Rev'd William Bentley 

Hon. James Winthrop 

Benjamin Russell, Esq. 

Samuel J. Prescott, Esq. 

Hon. Oliver Fiske (Worcester) 

Hon. Nathaniel Paine (Worcester) 

Hon. Levi Lincoln (Worcester) 

Hon. Kilborn Whitman, 

for the Old Colony 
Hon. George Thacher, 

for the District of Maine. 

1 As a matter of record, the following order of the Court of Common Pleas 
should be mserted in this place: 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

Worcester, Ss. Circuit Court of Common Pleas, for Sessions business, May 21, 1816, 
by adjournment from March Term last. 
On the petition of Isaiah Thomas, Esquire, in behalf of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, representing, That there is an old Book relating to Land Bank 
Titles, in the office of the Register of Deeds of this County, which Book long 



Counsellors. 



loo American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the Counsellors for the several States and the 
receiving ofhcers be appointed by the President and Sub- 
Council for Worcester.^ 



since became obsolete, and is made no use of whatever: — and as said Book may 
hereafter become a matter of some curiosity, the Society aforesaid are desirous 
of placing it in a state of preservation, and for that purpose begging permission 
of this Court to deposit it in the archives of said Society: 

Ordered, That the Book above mentioned be delivered to the Librarian of 
the American Antiquarian Society, to be kept in their Library, until the further 
Order of this Court respecting the same. 

Att., Wm. Jenison, Clerk pro tern. 

^ On December 2, 1816, the Sub-Coimcil chose the following: — 

Counsellors for 

New Hampshire, Nathaniel Adams, Esq., Portsmouth. 
Rhode Island, Pardon Bowen, M.D., Providence. 
Connecticut, Hon. David Humphreys, LL.D., Humphreysville. 
Vermont, Hon. Elijah Paine, LL.D., Williamstown. 
New York, Hon. DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., New York. 
Pennsylvania, Charles Caldwell, M.D., Philadelphia. 

Rev. Timothy Alden, District West of Alleghany, Meadville. 
New Jersey, Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D., Princeton. 
Maryland, Hon. Charles Goldsborough, Annapolis. 
Virginia, George W. P. Custis, Arlington. 
North Carolina, Hon. William Gaston, Raleigh. 
South Carolina, Hon. Langdon Cheves, Charleston. 
Georgia, Hugh McCall, Esq'r., Savannah. 
Kentucky, R#v. James Blythe, Transylvania. 
Tennessee, Moses Fisk, Esq., Hillham. 
Ohio, Jacob Burnet, Esq., Cincinnati. 
Louisiana, Hon. Eligius Fromentin, New Orleans. 
Mississippi Territory, James [Jonathan?] Thompson, Esq'r., Natchez. 

Receiving Officers 

Massachusetts, Mr. Isaiah Thomas, Jun'r, Boston. 
District of Maine, Oliver Bray, Esq'r, Portland. 

Rev. Wm. Jenks, Bath. 
New Hampshire, Hon. Daniel Webster, Esq., Portsmouth. 
Rhode Island, William Wilkinson, Esq., Providence. 
Connecticut, Benjamin Silliman, Prof. Yale Col., New Haven. 
New York, John Wakefield Francis, M.D., New York. 

Theodric Romeyn Beck, M.D., Albany. 
New Jersey, Abraham Clark, M.D., Newark. 
Pennsylvania, Mathew Carey, Philadelphia. 
Maryland, Rev. James Inglis, D.D., Baltimore. 
District of Columbia, Samuel Eliot, Esq., Washington. 
Virginia, Rev. John H. Rice, Richmond. 
Kentucky, John Hay Farnham, Esq., Versailles. 

Nathaniel GmLFORD, Esq., Woodford County- 
Ohio, Hon. Paul Fearing, Esq., Marietta. 
Tennessee, Rev. Gideon Blackburn, Nashville. 
Mississippi Territory, Silas Dinsmore, Esq., St. Stephens, Choctaw Nation. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1816 loi 

The Society then proceeded to the choice of officers : 

Rejoice Newton, Record' g Sec'y. 

Mr. Nathaniel G. Snelling, Assistant Rec'g Sec'y. 

T. M. Harris, D.D. 1 

A. Holmes, D.D. I Corresponding Secretaries. 

S. M. BuRNSiDE, Esq. ) 

Mr. Isaiah Thomas, Jun., Treasurer. 

Mr. Samuel Jennison, Librarian and Cabinet-keeper. 

Voted to choose a committee for publication by nomina- 
tion; the following gentlemen were elected. 

Rev'd Aaron Bancroft. 
Rev'd William Bentley. 
William Paine, M.D. 

On a motion to add to this committee, — Voted, that such 
addition at this time is not expedient. 

Voted, That the following gentlemen be a committee for 
nomination for the year ensuing — 

The President. 
Timothy Bigelow, Esq. 
William D. Peck, Esq. 
Rev'd John Pierce. 
Dr. Josiah Bartlett. 

Voted, That the appointment of an Orator for the next 
year be referred to the President and Council. 

Voted, That Mr. Nath'l G. Snelling and Stephen Codman, 
Esq., be a committee to examine and pass the Treasurer's 
accounts. 

Voted, That the report of the Sub-Council respecting the 
Library be accepted and filed. ^ 

Voted, That the Council be requested to procure the pub- 
lication of a catalogue of the Society's Library before the 
next semi-annual meeting.^ 

A hst of the donations to the Society for the last year 
was read. Also a letter from Charles Wilkins, Esq., to the 
Hon'le Mr. Otis, respecting the Mummy .^ 

^ This report has not been found. 

^ Isaiah Thomas records in his Diary under date of Jan. 2, 1817, " Mr 
Jennison, Librarian of the Am. Antiq'n Society, began making a Catalogue" 
{Transactions, vol. 9, p. 338). 

* Mr. Wilkins' letter is printed in the Transactions, vol. i, p. 361. The 
mummy was found in a cave in Kentucky and was presented to the Society 
by Mr. Wilkins, who had entrusted it to Nahimi Ward. The latter had appro- 



I02 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the subject of the Mummy be referred to the 
President and Sub-Council at Worcester. 

A letter was read from a Committee of the American Phil- 
osophical Society, at Philadelphia.^ 

Voted, That a suitable answer to the same be written by 
the President reciprocating the offers of cooperation, &c., &c. ^ 

A letter was read from Col. Dinsmore of St. Stephens, 
[Miss.] advising of certain donations made to the Society. 

Sundry other letters were also read.^ 

Voted, That the Society choose a committee to receive and 
assort the votes for members of the Society. Benjamin 
Russell, Esq., and Sam'l J. Prescott, Esq., were accordingly 
chosen. 



priated it for exhibition and the Society had some difficulty in obtaining pos- 
session of it. The following extract from a letter from Benjamin Russell to 
Mr. Thomas shows that not all the members of the Society approved of the 
gift: — 

"Thus stands the matter. Very few persons attend to see the skeleton; 
as those who do, universally express their disgust at it. For myself, I cannot 
perceive how the cause of science, history or antiquarianism is to be benefited 
by the preservation of those dried up particles. I have seen a dead cat, which 
accidentally was inclosed in an oven, and found some months afterwards in as 
good a state of mummy preservation as this skeleton. The best thing in my 
opinion which could be done with it would be to give it to some anatomical 
school or bury it in the cemetery." 

The mummy is now in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. A 
further account of it may be found in the Transactions, vol. 9, pp. 327-8, note. 

^ This letter expressed a desire to maintain such a correspondence with this 
Society as to offer co-operation in everything that tended to promote the objects 
each Society had in view. 

^ Mr. Thomas's letter was lately offered for sale at auction. It was pur- 
chased by a member of the Society, and has been placed in the archives. 

^ The following is of interest in view of the great collection of newspapers in 
the Society's possession, a collection already begun by Mr. Thomas: 

September 2, 1816. 
Dear Sir: 

Hoping and fondly presuming, that the American Antiquarian Society, 
so splendid in its infancy, may continue in vigour and its cabinet of curiosities 
be displayed for the gratification and benefit of the public, as long as mankind 
shall remain occupants of this terrestrial globe, I would suggest for considera- 
tion, whether a collection of one number of more of each gazette and other 
periodical publication at present edited within the territorial limits of the 
United States, may not, in future ages, be esteemed a most precious relic of 
antiquity. Such a deposit, it seems to me might be made with very Httle ex- 
pense, annually, or as often [as] should be considered expedient. Indeed, why 
not attempt a sinailar collection from beyond the Atlantic? 

With deference, 
HiLHAM, Ten. Moses Fisk. 

Sept. 2, 1816. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1816 103 

The following gentlemen were then admitted members 
(viz) 

JONA. GoODHXJE, EsQ., of New York. 

Hon. Nathan Dane, of Beverly. 

Leverett Saltonstall, Esq., Salem.^ 

Benjamin Ropes Nichols, Esq., Salem. 

Benjamin Allen, LL.D., Albany. 

Rev'd Timothy Clowes, Albany. 

Rev'd Isaac Lewis, New Rochelle, N. Y. 

James Wilson, A.M., Philadelphia. 

John Bailey, Esq., Canton, Mass. 

His Exc'y Gov. Brooks, Medford, Mass. 

Rev'd Horace Holley, Boston. 

Levi Hedge, Esq., Cambridge. 

Capt. John Bancroft, Worcester. 

Hon. Alex'r von Humboldt, France. 

Hon'le Sam'l Putnam, Salem. 

Hon'le William Tilghman, LL.D., Philadelphia. 

Charles Wilkins, Esq., Lexington, Ky. 

Peter S. DuPonceau, Esq., Philadelphia. 

Alex'r K. Marshall, Esq., Washington, Ky. 

Hon'le Paul Fearing, Marietta, Ohio. 

DocT. Dudley W. Rhodes, Zanesville, Ohio. 

Rob't Anderson, M.D., Edinburgh. 

Earl of Buchan, Edinburgh. 

Sir David Brewster, LL.D., &c., &c., Edinburgh. 

James Jamieson, LL.D., &c., Edinburgh. 

Prof. Thomas Brown, M.D., F.R.S., Edinburgh. 

Adam Clarke, LL.D. ] 

Rev'd Mark Noble, F.A.S., &c. [ England. 

Earl Stanhope i 

[Viscount de] Chateaubriand, Paris. 

Gen'l Henry Dearborn, Boston. 

Hon'le Mark Langdon Hill, Phippsburgh (Me.). 

John Hay Farnham, Esq., Kentucky. 



Afternoon, at the Stone Chapel 

Voted, that the Hon. Mr. Robbins and the Rev'd Mr. Jenks 
be a committee to express the thanks of the Society to the 
Rev'd Mr. Bentley for the Address delivered this day and 
to request a copy of the same for the press.^ 

^ Declined by letter Jan. 20, 1817. 

2 The address of Mr. Bentley was not published until 1875 and is here 
reprinted after the records of this meeting. The printed program of exercises 
is in the possession of the Society. It may be found reprinted on p. 330, vol. 
9, of the Transactions. 



I04 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, that Mr. Thomas, Jun., be a committee to thank 
the gentlemen, etc., who assisted in the orchestra. 
Adj. to Nov. 13th, 3 o'clock p.m. at Ex. Coffee House. 

N. G. Snelling, Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

A true entry of the proceedings of the meeting as furnished 
by the Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



ADDRESS BY REV. WILLIAM BENTLEY^ 

In multiplying the associations of life, regard must be paid, 
not to the objects only, but to the means which they afford. 
Under the general name of an institution of Arts and Sciences 
might be included any researches which the pubHc favor ought 
to embrace. Everything relating to man is history, but 
Antiquity regards a particular period of society, and may 
have its immediate and indispensable obligations. We have 
boasted of our schools, and every historian has given us the 
praise which our success has secured to us ; but if the historian 
could have examined a book of antiquities, he might in a 
few lines have exhibited to the reader, not alone the effect, 
but the powerful causes which had concurred to produce 
it. From the neglect of antiquities we have almost lost the 
knowledge of the elementary books which preceded, in the 
course of instruction, those of the past century. And even 
our first historian, Hubbard, who was the first founder of a 
school upon appropriated funds, and was at ease in his con- 
dition, was reported to a most attentive biographer as a 

1 This address was not printed until 1875 ^.nd was then preceded by the 
following introductory note: — 

" The manuscript notes of this Address, now for the first time printed, were 
found among papers of the author which came to the Society on the death of 
the late William B. Fowle. As they, evidently, had not been prepared for 
the press, the Publishing Committee have ventured to re-arrange some expres- 
sions, and omit a few sentences whose meaning was not clear. This paper has 
long been desired to take its place in the series of Proceedings of the Society 
at their periods of meeting. 

The following vote, passed on the day of the delivery of the Address, is taken 
from the Records: 

' Afternoon at the 

Stone Chapel, October 23, 1816. 

Voted. That the Hon. Mr. Robbins and the Rev. Mr. Jenks be a Committee to express the 
thanks of the Society to the Rev. Mr. Bentley for the Address delivered this day, and to request 
a copy of the same for the press.' 

At a meeting of the Society in January following, the Committee reported 
' progress,' and there the matter appears to have rested." 



Address by Rev. William Bentley 105 

pauper, and as neglected in his old age; when he died the 
richest in his profession, and with greater acknowledgments 
from his charge than any minister has received before or 
after his times. No man could make more diligent inquiry, 
or employ greater impartiahty than his biographer had done, 
but he had not the aid of an antiquary. The same thing is to 
be observed of the son of the greatest merchant of the first cen- 
tury of our history. He gave his talents and a portion of his 
wealth to the college, and resided and died in Charlestown; 
and yet the value of these services, and of this character and 
influence, did not prevent the denial of these facts, when they 
were announced in the present generation, even by those who 
had high claims upon the pubhc favor, and were in circum- 
stances which might be deemed the best for information on 
this subject. We may observe further that the most flourish- 
ing university in our country so little encouraged the work of 
the antiquary, that among few of its sons are to be found 
the elementary books which were copied from the manu- 
scripts of the most able instructors, and even presidents of 
the estabhshment, though these constitute elements from 
which the true history of the University must be given, and 
become of the highest value in connection with the true his- 
tory of instruction in our elementary schools. Had the 
labors of the antiquary been duly encouraged, the best part 
of our history could not have been found at the present 
day in its present very imperfect state. If no study be 
more interesting to man, than that of his own race, and no 
part of it more dear than that of his kindred and country, 
the study in which we engage must have the highest com- 
mendation, particularly at a time when general neglect has 
almost excluded us from the best information respecting the 
origin of our own institutions, and the progress and means 
of our own prosperity. 

The part I shall assign myself on the present occasion 
will be by the aid of the antiquary to correct some vulgar 
errors respecting the true character of the past generation. 
As that generation has too freely been represented as a race 
of fanatics, it has been more difficult for the historian to 
conceive how that which has been destructive in every other 
country, should have ultimately been so successful in this. 
And not having any proper aid from the antiquary, he is 
obhged to admit causes inadequate to the great effect, and to 
leave hastily the whole in the obscurity in which he finds it. 



io6 American Antiquarian Society 

By fanaticism here, we do not intend any opinions of an- 
cient or modern times, or of any nation, but that impluse 
from imagination that acknowledges no restraint from civil 
authority or the knowledge the age in which it appears — 
that is blind, impetuous, and dangerous. 

When our settlements began, they soon perceived the fa- 
vorable opportunities to promote their independence. The 
only difficulty was political, from the consideration of the 
allegiance they owed to the country from which they came, 
and from the dangers of powerful neighbors. But this diffi- 
culty did not prevent very important measures to hasten the 
time in which it might be accomplished, or very serious proj- 
ects respecting the manner of it. The first project was from 
Mr. Wilhams, who, regardless of every prejudice in his time, 
was for a new civil constitution, and an open separation from 
all ecclesiastical dominion. The spirit we might commend, 
but not the means. More was due to what men were, and 
much more to what they might become. It was fanaticism 
which opposed itself to this project, because it was too bold 
on points on which fanaticism could then take no instruction. 
It failed, and we need say no more at present about it. 

We cannot refuse to admire the first project, and to de- 
clare that it was not a civil investigation that frustrated it. 
The next became more successful, as it threatened nothing 
to fanaticism, and was executed without alarm to civil preju- 
dices; and it may be considered as that begun in the time of 
Mr. Peters. This embraced three objects: the greatest com- 
mercial activity, the display of mercantile wealth, and the 
substitution of civil for religious festivities; and the anti- 
quary will tell us that these three objects were most remarka- 
bly accomplished in the first generation. For the attainment 
of the first it was necessary to command the wealth collected 
in the country, belonging to the richest settlers, and obtained 
from the best directed industry. We know not a cir- 
cumstance that can be added to those which this project 
employed. The Capital had not assumed a mercantile superi- 
ority. In the negotiations of the country respecting its com- 
mercial interests, it employed the activity it found in Mr. 
Peters and his friends. Possessed of the claims of precedency 
in ci\dl affairs, and holding the university in its neighborhood, 
it granted the full use of all the public stock to those who 
were content with the use, and really rewarded the Capital 
by transplanting, in the event, the greatest wealth into its 



Address by Rev. William Bentley 107 

bosom, with a large portion of that wliich was retained, after 
it had circulated in its own channels. We find, as early as 
1658, a large importation for the two chief towns, in three 
ships from England only, amounting to six thousand pounds 
sterhng. The country had not then, in this part of it, any 
settlement which had existed one-third of a century. The 
whole character of this commerce the antiquary may assist 
to develop, and may exhibit it in all the correct forms in 
which business was done in the best houses of London, or 
Amsterdam, or the most estabUshed marts of Europe. 

But as the existence of this commerce has not been doubted, 
we may at present entertain ourselves more properly with the 
exhibition of mercantile wealth, from which we are to collect 
the extent of its influence upon pubHc manners. We have 
too long been taught to beheve that at first every thing bore 
the marks of a poverty, which, though voluntary, was real; 
that the austerity of manners did well enough agree with 
the horrors of a wilderness, being content only to supply 
the first wants, and erect a cabin which the waste of fuel 
rendered inhabitable. But what shall we say when we dis- 
cover what articles an inventory of a first settler did embrace ? 
The nature of the argument obhges an enumeration Avith 
which we here might be inclined to dispense, but with which 
they who msh plenary evidence may be satisfied. Nor is it a 
solitary example. It is the exact measure at which wealth 
held its reputation. 

At the mansion house we find every description of out- 
houses, adapted to every domestic convenience. For business 
we find the upper and lower warehouses and wharf, and the 
accommodations which belong to them. We are then car- 
ried to the store chamber, in which supplies are abundant. 
In the mansion house we find every apartment designated 
for its exclusive purposes. In the old hall we find floors of 
great firmness, walls covered with panels which fill their 
whole height, and windows of large dimensions and deep 
seats, measuring the whole thickness of the frames and the 
work around them. We then ascend to the Red chamber, 
the Glass chamber, passing the Hall chamber and Corner 
chambers, leaving below, besides rooms for domestic ser- 
vices, the counting-house and entry. Above are all the con- 
veniences for the many servants employed in the house. Of 
the articles which the domestic furniture includes we may 
reckon above 70 articles of plate of every description, giving 



io8 American Antiquarian Society 

1056 ounces, equal to £352. In the out-houses we find places 
for the family horse, and whatever may increase domestic 
enjoyment. Nor are these pleasures solitary. The life of the 
town is assisted by all the advantages of adjacent farms and 
cultivated territory. One farm a few miles from home has 
200 acres; another at a greater distance, 800 acres. Houses 
and lands, besides, were holden by various claims, or under 
leases. Nor among the stores of the family do we find less 
than three pipes of Madeira reserved for domestic use. An 
inventory of 70 pages is entitled to so much notice. But this 
quotation would be less pertinent were it without example. 
We might adduce the same things from other estates, and 
if in some of them the amount might be less, it would not be 
because any articles we have enumerated were omitted. Such 
houses as yet remain, erected in the first century, give ample 
confirmation to these legal records of wealth. We are not to 
suppose that this wealth, so displayed, had not everything 
which could aid its duration and give it the perfection of which 
the age was capable. We find, in the many Corinthian capitals, 
that the huge Gothic coverings had not obliged them to forget 
the effect which a whole front could receive from the just ele- 
vation of Grecian orders; and the rudeness of the wilder- 
ness had not made them forget the regular pavements on 
which their buildings were approached. 

But the accommodations of the possessor did not terminate 
with the habitation in which he dwelt. The ornaments of 
person were as well known and as eagerly sought as in any 
age, and the aiftiquary may produce letters from the most 
devout families, and even from the families of ministers, in 
which the taste of the greatest city in the world is as earnestly 
consulted as to dress and colors as we could imagine it might 
be in an age of luxury and beauty. Nor was the severity 
of republican manners allowed to interfere with these in- 
dulgences, and these enjoyments of wealth and beauty. 
The destruction of such good things under the pretence of 
zeal, would have been more extravagant in that age than in 
our own. Such as have seen the wives of elders, who sur- 
vived to the past century, well know that no persons were 
more rich in their apparel, or more careful of respect at 
home and abroad. The effects were not limited. In religious 
assemblies, the magistrates and citizens in commission had 
their special seats, and the valuation of estates was seen, 
not barely in the records of office, but in public meetings, 



'j Address by Rev, William Bentley 109 

and even in the catalogues of their rising institutions of 
education. Whatever could thus have influence upon the 
whole character of life, should not be overlooked by the 
historian, and the antiquary should be ready to supply; as 
without it the most false calculation might be made of the 
condition of society and of the real means of its advance- 
ment to that state which may command our respect and 
admiration. 

But another subject yet lies before us, which will disclose 
not barely a spirit of imitation, but the discernment which 
posterity will appreciate as belonging to character, if not 
honorable to genius and a refined civil poHty. It is that 
to which we referred when we mentioned a substitute of civil 
for rehgious festivities. It is entitled to minute investiga- 
tion, which at some future time it will undoubtedly receive. 
It is an odious task to impose restraints upon the passions of 
men, and particularly to attempt to change the expressions of 
them. Civil governments have preferred to associate pubhc 
festivities with the religious principle, to become more sure 
of the act and of the principle. In Christendom this senti- 
ment had lost none of its force at the reformation, and the 
same motives which had induced Christian nations to adopt 
the festivities of civil governments by changing, not the form, 
but occasion of them, would still urge an enlightened govern- 
ment not to forget all these experiments upon human nature. 
The purpose of our country was not to abound in civil fes- 
tivities and the pubHc aids of the passions, but to restore to the 
State, and to the institutions it adopts, the exclusive indul- 
gence of all the festivities it would create. We might have 
expected from superstition that the ancient solemnities would 
remain, and from theory, that if they were denied all the pomp 
they had assumed to awe and engage the senses, the convic- 
tion which could produce so great a change, would wage an 
eternal warfare with every sportive scene and passionate in- 
dulgence. But what can be done by a sect, cannot be done 
by human nature. What Christian nations might allow to 
religious orders with benefit to society could never be im- 
posed upon the whole social character. What the indul- 
gence of the Church had made the duty of religious orders, 
was left in our country to private manners. What was 
then to be the substitute for the domestic observance of 
christenings and the solemn pomp of consecration? What 
was to reconcile the people to an almost total exclusion 



no American Antiquarian Society 

from even the ceremony of baptism? What was to per- 
suade them that the recurrence of Easter day and Christ- 
mas was not to divide the years, and that the canonical 
days were to pass without any notice? As commerce was 
to enrich society, the launches of ships were rendered im- 
portant amusements of the people; and the entertainments 
on such occasions gave the men of active business an op- 
portunity to excite the strongest affections to themselves 
by these pubHc exhibitions, and by a liberal provision for 
the working men they employed. The expenses as reported 
to us, would be sufficient for some of our modern entertain- 
ments. Military reviews had all the attention of the govern- 
ment, and the articles of military dress have in some famihes 
been preserved beyond a century. They were occasions on 
which the rich revealed their love of honors, while they de- 
nied themselves no badge of office, and no ceremony which 
had been preserved in any book of discipline. The court 
days were not less festive than the military, and were cele- 
brated in the most distant settlements; while the humble 
sports and generous feats of strength assigned to the annual 
period of their elections were as sure to be repeated as the 
diversions of a birthday or of a coronation. Such substitutes 
might answer for the sportive passions, but in the hour of 
bereavement superstition might insist upon all its claims. 
How dispense with the ritual of the dead and impose an un- 
interrupted silence upon the house of mourning, the funeral 
procession, and the visit to the tomb or the grave? How for- 
bid the funeral anthem, or the devout ejaculation to the 
saint? Yet our fathers did impose this silence. After the 
last breath the language of prayer ceased from the lips of 
the minister of religion. He had no other office than that of 
every neighbor, to join in the same procession, or to take his 
place at his pleasure among mourning relatives and friends. 
The expenses on such occasions were the greatest which 
in social life could occur. Every one provided for the chari- 
ties or tokens which were to be his last gifts to his friends and 
neighbors. It is the fate of the antiquary, that, while he 
finds it necessary to exhibit such circumstances, they will 
be often thought too trifling by those who know not how to 
appreciate them in real history, where they may not even 
be mentioned. What should we think, in times of economy, 
of one hundred pounds in funeral charges, which had no 
other object than compliance with the custom? Should we 



Address by Rev. William Bentley iii 

imagine it was an age of poverty when custom required the 
purchase of 40 dozen pairs of gloves, of which the greater 
part were used at the funeral, and sixty gold rings, of which 
some were valued at five pounds, and none so low as half 
that amount? What shall we say of a bill which exceeded 
400 pounds, and not far from sterling value? We have no 
occasion to pay such a price for redemption from any Euro- 
pean customs we might discommend. The lapse of time 
destroys the spell which long habits impose, and we can 
enjoy an innocent freedom upon these subjects. But the 
danger of relapse will be an apology for the first settlers, 
which will be admitted by every candid man. And how 
shall we judge fairly of them if we have not their manners 
before us, and cannot assign the causes which were sufficient 
to advance their civil state beyond that of other European 
colonies. 

It is to commerce we are indebted for the advancement 
of our settlements to that success which no errors of opinion 
could overthrow; and while it was able to yield such ad- 
vantages, we surely owe it such an investigation as will lead 
us to put a full value upon its resources and its opportunities. 
If we are indebted to Mr. Peters for his concurrence in the 
measures of our commerce, we are not less indebted to Mr. 
Norris, his successor, for his aid to industry in the arts by 
which the commerce of our settlements was assisted; and 
we cannot have better evidence of the general interest than 
the relapse into the greatest domestic danger upon the de- 
cline of commerce, and the general fears which the revolu- 
tion in England seemed to occasion. All the great houses of 
commerce had establishments in the Capital, and conducted 
all their business in this manner. They estabHshed some of 
their children, and possessed houses, stores, and wharves, by 
which their business had the same ample advantages, in 
different situations, and even upon such parts of the shore 
as supplied lumber, or fish, or any thing which could be 
valuable in the market. Never do we discover greater 
anxiety than after the restoration, when the monarch pro- 
posed to unite a part of the present province of Maine to the 
government of New York, with which before no serious com- 
petition had arisen. The first thing was to provide compe- 
tent ship-builders, and each settlement was ambitious to 
claim the best specimens of naval architecture; but the en- 
terprise of Mr. Peters soon produced a ship of 300 tons, 



112 American Antiquarian Society 

and the timber hills are still known from which he supplied 
his workmen. The artificers of that day still have posterity 
in the same occupations; and from them have been obtained 
the models of their vessels, the price of tonnage, and all the 
articles supplied in the market for ship-building. We find 
by arrivals at Boston, from Europe, the value of the com- 
merce during the commonwealth. We find one cargo in- 
voiced 2 949£.; three company ships at 3437£.; oneati666£.; 
another at i387£.; another at 5835£.; another at 2g'j^£. 
Voyages to France are mentioned, as well as to England. 
The three ships, Prudence, Mary, and Speedwell, are reck- 
oned at 4943 £.; the Trial to France at i328£. and America 
to France 382s£. We content ourselves with a cursory no- 
tice, from which we may infer to what amount voyages in 
the first generation had arisen. 

We are led to inquire about the domestic trade, and we find 
early from the famihes of Endicott and Hathorne, persons 
residing in Maine to secure the lumber trade. The history 
of this trade will give the value of the first purchases in that 
country, and the extent of their conflicting claims. At one 
time a merchant had debts at the Eastward amounting to 
above i20o£. in sums advanced in the lumber trade. The 
agreements with the logmen give the same general character 
to the trade which it still retains. The fishing voyages were 
made in four fares, and the stock and respective fares were 
made out great and small generals, as at the present time. 
The greatest care was taken to reserve on the shores the most 
suitable lots of land for the fishery, which gave employment 
to many hands ashore; and the regulations prevented any 
purchases which should give exclusive privileges in particular 
places, so that the great changes which arose from the dif- 
ferent location of settlements, were due to the different lo- 
caHties of the fishing business. The fishery at home was so 
settled into a system that the gains were chiefly with those 
who could ship to a market after making their purchases from 
the fishermen. The business, from its regularity, soon be- 
came the exclusive or general emplo>Tnent of whole settle- 
ments, to which it gave its own manners and character; 
raising, as in Europe, a most hardy and enterprising race for 
all naval adventures. 

The commerce in America soon become greatest in small 
vessels, even those employed in the fishery with the West 
Indies. Barbadoes appears at the most early period very 



Address by Rev. William Bentley 113 

often on the books of the merchant. It was at a later time 
that conquest gave to the English Jamaica, which soon be- 
came a favorite island. In one of the Ketches in the first 
West India voyages, we find Pork, Mackerel, Bass, Cod, 
Tar, Flour, Peas, Oil, and Butter, invoiced at 2^^£. The 
whole in quarters at 469£. Voyages were made to other 
islands in the West Indies, as the laws of trade and pros- 
pects of success did admit, and also to the Madeira Islands, 
and the islands of its neighborhood, particularly Fayal. 
The trade to Bilboa, in the Bay of Biscay, was also early 
known and much used, as well as the trade to other parts 
of Spain and to Portugal. 

With whatever interest we regard the foreign trade, we 
may find there the causes which have concurred to produce 
the union of our States, as these appear in the different periods 
of our history from the beginning. Though it be true that 
our existence under the same government must have sup- 
plied the most powerful causes of union, yet it is evident 
that our rapid progress did at every period obtain for us 
advantages never derived from this same government. The 
political wisdom which resigned to the British nation the 
settlements which the Dutch and the Swedes had made in 
the most flourishing part of our country, was directed by 
the slow growth of those plantations, and the higher value 
of our own. The same policy arrested the regions in the 
North, which had been possessed by the French, and those 
which had been held by the Spaniards in the South. And 
it is the same condition of things which has given to the 
States, since the revolution, the extensive regions of Louisi- 
ana. Whatever any portion of the Southern States may 
claim from the priority of date to their settlements, we trust 
it will not be questioned that they were inferior to us in 
their commerce at the period of which we treat, and if they 
have not been indebted to our example, they must confess 
they were later in the school of commerce than ourselves. 

Our first southern voyages were to Virginia, under which 
name was included the southern portion of the States, as 
the whole, our own territory included, was South and North 
Virginia. We soon find clearances for Virginia and Mary- 
land. For a century these voyages were made by our fisher- 
men in the winter season in their fishing craft, and often 
upon freight. The principle articles were corn and pork and 
naval stores, which were brought for domestic consumption. 



114 American Antiquarian Society 

Our own trade was much limited, even at a later period, 
by the habits which had been formed in the first generation. 

The trade with New York began as the first generation 
was passing off. While a Dutch settlement, we have evi- 
dence enough of the jealousy towards it which New Eng- 
land maintained. But when all claims beyond its immediate 
territories had ceased, in 1665, the spirit of commerce con- 
ceived a new opportunity for trade. The Dutch West India 
Company failed at the time our commerce began. They had 
not agreed upon their Hmits till 1650, and had not time to 
restore confidence before the union under the same gov- 
ernment. We find goods advertised to New York in 1665, 
and a freight paid to the same place for 3o£. ; the adventure 
being more than seven times that sum. Another freight 
was paid in another vessel in the same year. We discover 
the uncertain character of this commerce in the payment of 
cash, and we observe that two pipes of wine found a good 
market. These seem to have been some of the measures to 
open a commerce which has since been of great value to the 
Union, and the intercourse never afterwards was long inter- 
rupted. 

The trade with Rhode Island plantations, and with Con- 
necticut, was adventured by the same merchants, and had 
continued from the beginning. But as many of their sailors 
were from our plantations, similarity of habits had brought 
many of their vessels into our ports, and of our vessels into 
their own in turn. The Ketch beginning was upon such 
voyages, and we find orders expressed to go to the south- 
ward to fall into the sound of Rhode Island and of Con- 
necticut, to make up their cargo of Wheat, Corn and Pork. 
The freights for fish to the Isles of Shoals, and for Piscata- 
qua and Portsmouth and Great Island, which were early in 
a flourishing condition from the fishery, are often mentioned. 
In the same manner visits were made to Cape Sable on the 
coast below us. Our adventurers often suffered from the 
Indians in the higher latitudes. It was at a later period 
that the whale fishery had vessels from all our ports, but the 
oil which was procured was always in our ports. The whole 
view of an infant people in such progress may yield impres- 
sions very favorable to their industry. 

One thing is very honorable to the character of our first 
merchants, and it was the unbounded credit they gave to 
each other. Whatever was judged expedient for a voyage, 



Address by Rev. William Bentley 115 

and was to be found in the possession of any other merchant 
it was obtained upon credit, or the owner was invited to be- 
come interested in the voyage which it could render produc- 
tive. We often find sums as large as the whole amount of 
property upon credit, without any embarrassment to the mer- 
chant, if the articles he might require were in the market. 
This confidence was not confined to business. All the sup- 
plies which are necessary to domestic Hfe, are obtainable 
in the smallest quantities, while we find the greatest luxuries 
furnished as the occasions or wishes of neighbors may re- 
quire. Hardly a wine of any quality could be named that 
could not be found, and it was no part of their temperance 
to live penuriously, but to have the best without abuse and 
with friendship. 

It is an inquiry that will be made on this subject, were 
the benefits derived by society contemplated by those who 
were the instruments of them, or were they only in pur- 
suit of wealth, regardless of the general advantages which 
might arise to the whole community? It is upon the answer 
to this inquiry that their highest value must depend. It 
is a known and acknowledged truth, that the greatest mer- 
chants were the greatest benefactors of the infant colony. 
The proudest building of our capital was the donation of a 
merchant, and the greatest merchant of Salem not only was 
liberal on all great occasions, but he assisted in building 
places of worship, in erecting a college, and in endowments 
of both college and schools; and his example was followed 
by his posterity without any diminished effort. The charac- 
ter gained in the first days of our existence has served as 
the guardian of our better years, and of our richest hopes. 
The son of Mr. Brown was suppHed from the wealth of his 
father, and gave his best services to the college and to the 
churches. Though he accepted no pastoral charge, he per- 
formed all its duties, and honored the college and the churches, 
as well by his services as by his bounty. It would be odious 
to distinguish famihes, but what famihes have done more 
honor to our country and to our college than those of Leverett 
or Winthrop! The civil and military and learned pro- 
fessions have had their greatest ornaments from such families 
as possessed the wealth of the country, and this had no other 
source but its commerce. PubKc honors had not in that 
age rich endowments. From the bounty of the rich our 
public institutions were maintained, and education in the 



ii6 American Antiquarian Society 

first generation had all the assistance which enlightened 
Europe could afford. Says Mr. Peters, writing to Deacon 
Orne, my desire is that my wife should return to America, 
and I propose to follow. It was my mind that my cousin 
Downing should educate my child and dwell in my house. 
This person was afterwards a minister abroad in the reign 
of Charles the second. And it should be remembered that 
no dissensions in churches, no questions or mihtary obh- 
gations, and no parties for family interests, arose from 
combinations among men of business. Their share in the 
confidence of the people came from the industry they pro- 
moted around them. We have not any works from the press 
to which we can appeal, as the press was almost altogether 
surrendered to the government and to the ministers of re- 
ligion; but none of the pubhc documents bring them into 
disgrace, or allow us to impute any pubhc calamities to their 
interference. The people never suffered from their inde- 
pendence, and never were betrayed by any effort to corrupt 
them. It was in our towns that their influence was most 
felt, and that the best schools were found. Pubhc opinion 
has assigned to the ministers of rehgion the special quahfi- 
cations for teachers of Hterature; but in the oldest settle- 
ment, scarce a year can be named in which the instruction of 
youth was not found to be directed by men who had no offices 
in the church. 

In the mihtary service we discover their constant pre- 
eminence. They seem to have inherited those honors. And 
this distinction, which began from the influence of charac- 
ter, has not been lost in our own times. Such honors were 
shared among the best citizens, who combined heroism with 
their agricultural pursuits; but in every part of our country 
we have seen the tendency of corresponding pursuits to fur- 
nish candidates for mihtary promotion. It is not to bestow 
an undue share of praise, that this respectful notice is taken 
of an invaluable class of citizens, but to disclose how much 
the antiquary may do in restoring history to its truth and its 
simphcity. Enough is known of past events, and related in 
accordance with unquestionable facts, to satisfy us that it is 
from the active habits of men and nations their hopes must 
arise; that whatever office they assign to opinions, it must be 
to increase the public virtue of the age. That part of national 
character is the best which preserves industry, pro\ddes its 
means, enlarges its honors, and secures its blessings. We 



Address by Rev. William Bentley 117 

need not employ a single quotation from foreign history. 
We have only to examine our own. The dangerous opinion 
that the State has a rehgion to defend against the right of 
private judgment, repeatedly involved our settlements in 
imminent danger. One of the best friends of civil Hberty was 
obUged to retire. One of the greatest men of the settlement, 
by the strength of his genius, gave authority to persecution. 
Had not a power existed to restrain this zeal, every hope 
must have been abandoned. Repeatedly the same spirit en- 
dangered that balance between the undiscerning and the 
wise, upon which public safety depends; and it was from the 
aid which the interests of commerce afforded and the hght it 
gave, that the balance was restored and the higher wisdom 
prevailed. Society still continues to need the same balance, 
and it is by the power we can command, and can suitably 
direct, that we accomplish the best good. It is not the 
quantity of the power, but the suitable appHcation of it. 

How much we are indebted to the vigilance of com- 
merce for our present pohtical situation is well known. What 
our gratitude ought to be to the agency which supports our 
pubHc institutions, which prevents rehgion from all the 
degradation that superstition could introduce, which gives 
patronage to our arts, which excites domestic industry and 
rewards it, that preserves the fine arts for our manners, 
and the best amusements to exclude the worst, it is needless 
to declare. It is enough if the antiquary can show us our 
former obligations; we trust our own prudence will accept 
the same guardianship, and that the more we know of the 
true cause of our greatness, the more sure and exalted it will 
appear. 

The arts which commerce would encourage, are such as 
best support its true interest. It could not expect in an 
infant country to rival the proud establishments of Europe. 
Its first independence must be of the aids which its first 
necessities would require. The prudence which would pro- 
vide mills for the preparation of food, would provide mills 
for the lumber trade, and the necessary articles for the 
management of the fisheries. All these would be of Httle 
use without ship-building. This art was soon introduced, 
and we are persuaded upon the best instruction; as Mr. 
Peters, when in the Low Countries, had visited the works 
which the great RichHeu had established when he endeavored 
to collect by every allurement, the best workmen in Europe 



ii8 American Antiquarian Society 

into the French service. In the families of the most early 
emigrants of this craft from Europe, we find only such books 
as were of later date than the first generation, and a few 
French engravings. 

For a sloop we find the following proportions: Upon 
the keel 41 feet, by 15 on the beam, and by 63^ feet in the 
hold. Having 2Y2 feet in the waist, a steerage and cabin, 
a rake afore and aft, and two ports on a side. Contract 
upon the last day of June, to be delivered afloat in Septem- 
ber at 3£ 5s. per ton. Another, double masted, to have 50 
feet keel, and the rake of the stern post before 12 feet, and 
the breadth of the beam 19 feet, with a good round bow 
under water. The depth of the hold 9 feet 9, and three 
feet between decks from plank to plank, a rising abaft for a 
quarter deck 14 inches, to come to the main mast; the wales 
to be 5 inches thick, and wale pieces to be as long as possi- 
ble, and one strake of plank on the wales, and another under 
of 4 inches, and tract line of dead rising 7 feet 9, sweep an- 
swerable. All the futtlocks (tuthucks) of white oak. No 
plank to exceed 12 inches in breadth when worked, timber 
grown to the mould. Eight pounds to be paid per ton. 20o£ 
at laying the keel, ioo£ at the wales, ioo£ at the upper deck, 
and to make up the two-thirds in money at dehvery, and 
the payment of a third in goods. Another with a pink stern 
in April, to be finished in August at io£ per ton. Keel 42 
feet, 16 feet beam, and 7 feet 8 inches hold. ioo£ at rais- 
ing, 100 when demanded, and last at finishing, with all the 
usual customs attending such contracts. A special regard is 
always paid to the quaUty of the timber. At this time the 
iron was an article of importation, though able smiths were 
in the country to work it, and perhaps in as great variety as 
at present, as it was employed in more domestic uses than in 
our times, and poHshed for the best purposes. The Spanish 
iron is sometimes charged at double the price of English, 
and always above it. The Spanish steel had the same pref- 
erence. Canvas is reckoned at 30 pence a yard. The carpen- 
ters were led to combine very diff'erent labors, as may be 
known from the following contract: The house that is to 
be built, must have the following dimensions. Its length 24 
feet from inside to inside, and its breadth 18 feet. The 
length of stud 10 feet between wall plate and ground sill, 
with three lengths of joist, to jett at the end next the street 
2 feet, with handsome pendulas. One gable end on the 



Address by Rev. William Bentley 119 

west side and towards the north end, together with sleepers 
for the lower floor. The frame to be completely raised, 
and the price in goods, 12 pounds. To furnish the house in 
addition to the plate, was the great quantity of pewter which 
was required, for which we have a ready substitute. Thirty- 
five pounds was not an uncommon portion; in some families 
we find 452 weight. The form of it differed from that in 
present use, as the dishes partook of the shape adapted to the 
separate use of hquids, so that the depressed part did not ex- 
ceed a third of the whole diameter. The articles of plate 
were all imitated in this metal; and we find in the list, tank- 
ards, basins, salvers, dishes, plates, bowls, goblets, porrin- 
gers, cups, pots, and spoons of every size. To riches and 
strength they added ornament. 

Some of the specimens of painting which remain have noth- 
ing superior in the durability and combination of colors; 
and the art to which they had recourse, seldom gave them 
cause to renew their call for its aid in their apartments for 
several generations. The greater use of wood for the apart- 
ments very much confined the labors of the mason, who had 
seldom any opportunity to display his skill but in places 
which required more strength than beauty; the decorations 
on the parts of the chimney which passed beyond the roof 
being the principal display of taste abroad, as the hearth 
and the tile were around the fire. These seldom required 
repair. So great was the confidence in the cement, and so 
free its use, that no compla'nt was made against the smallest 
stones which could be used in a wall; and the unbaked clay 
and light bricks which were interposed between the two 
wooden surfaces of the rooms sufficiently guarded against 
the exterior cold. The aid of the glazier was admitted more 
sparingly in private houses. Windows in common apart- 
ments were small, and differed more in the forms in which 
the glass was cut and leaded than in the size. The exclu- 
sion of strong light, whether for health or from habit, was 
never regarded as an inconvenience in any season; as it was 
thought to be as well adapted to cool the air in summer as 
to the confinement of the warm air in winter. 

Things in ordinary use, both of wood and metal, were 
soon provided by the labors of artificers in the country, and 
soon became articles of traffic with the more Southern set- 
tlements. In leather, such articles as were required for com- 
mon purposes were readily suppHed, and not of an inferior 



I20 American Antiquarian Society 

quality. But such articles as were variously colored never 
were profitable enough for extensive manufacture. In woolen 
and linen, nothing could be found in daily apparel which 
had not been gained by domestic and female labor; but 
it was no cause of reproach to wear on great occasions the 
cloths from the best foreign manufacturers, and to continue 
them in famihes for special use in many generations. This 
ambition was by no means exclusive, and every honest citizen 
was commended for it; particularly if he received such a 
valuable inheritance from some worthy ancestor. A love 
of ancestors was in everything encouraged. The walls of 
the wealthy were hung with the full-length portraits of their 
progenitors. Figures less than life-size were seldom seen, 
and it is upon this account we have so few heads of the first 
settlers. When the first painting was defaced, the picture 
was lost. It was not till the second century that the en- 
graver was taught to preserve by many copies the supposed 
resemblance of a man whose memory had been rendered dear 
to posterity. Had the last art been coeval in our customs with 
the first, we should have secured many pleasures for posterity. 

Of all the apartments, that for sleep was supplied with 
everything which taste or wealth could administer. No 
richer specimens of art and expense have been ever exhibited. 
It has been imagined that the fine arts were neglected, and 
should our own customs be the test, this might be admitted. 
From the manner in which the psalmody of the Church was 
performed, this inference was drawn. But it should be re- 
membered that in all Christian churches the music was di- 
rected from the altar, and limited as the service by its canons, 
and that the protestant and reformed churches made no 
innovation. The first attempt to reform this part of worship 
was from the plea that the tunes did not admit variety of 
measure and expression. In the first generation domestic 
devotion was always accompanied with music; and no com- 
positions passed through more editions than the simple poems 
which chastised all the passions into devotion. 

Nor were they strangers to graceful motion. No invec- 
tives against any abuses ever excluded the song or the dance 
from famihes of every condition, and a greater proportion 
were acquainted with the movements and melodies than 
probably in our own days. The greatest difference in man- 
ners probably arose from the union of all ages. Every- 
thing indulged in for sport or pleasure was common to the 



Address by Rev. William Bentley 121 

aged and to the young, and no occasion supplied motives 
for separation. It was not imagined that passions which 
were born with us and brought up together were ever to be 
separated, but that in age they required the same company 
they had ever enjoyed. It was the cheerfulness of age that 
was the guardian of youth, and the sympathy was more 
blessed as it was perfect. What pleasure the antiquary has 
who can sit down with such company, and is not disgusted 
with some unusual ceremony, when he reads the pure senti- 
ment that it loves! He can see all the affections in which 
he deHghts, though at first they may seem to speak a strange 
language. With him nothing is disguised by its habit, or 
recommended but by its native claims. He knows the 
patriarch by his gray hairs, and by the charms of his counte- 
nance, whether he be found in the habihments of ancient 
or modern times. He asks no table of chronology for the 
date, and distinguishes circumstances as readily as the mer- 
chant can his gold, or his weights and his measures. He can 
no more confound the man with his appearance, than the 
substance of a book with the sentiment of it. And he will 
no more judge of that of which he knows not the condition, 
than he would of the contents of an apartment into which 
he has never been suffered to enter. Antiquaries have been 
judged as our ancestors have been. They have been denied 
to be gold because they have not the same inscriptions as 
current money. It is because they are the pure and not 
coimterfeit coin that we love them. They tell us, as we 
read them, when they were made, and offer themselves at 
their real worth. To others they are only old gold, if even 
this property be known. The standard and the value be- 
long to a better judgment. To ourselves and to our country 
we owe more discernment. If we remember prosperity, we 
should know how it was gained. It is not enough that some 
cause be assigned, or that the report should not be questioned. 
It is the truth we seek, and the truth, wherever we dig, we 
would find. A single fact may dissipate error and set us 
free. Human life is a display of virtue and vice, and of 
truth and error. Genius has been busy with it, and talent 
employed in it; but genius has not possessed it at pleasure, 
and talents have not commanded it. Five are wise and five 
are fooHsh. The lawgiver surprises us with a theory of the 
passions and a project for a good government. The civiUan 
makes the best of the laws as he finds them. But some mind 



122 American Antiquarian Society 

that sees things exactly as they are, puts the smallest weight 
he can find on the balance, at the point which can move the 
world. 



MEETING OF NOVEMBER 13, 1816 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
by adjournment, at the Exchange Coffee House, in Boston, 
on Wednesday, the 13th day of November, Anno Domini 
1816, at 3 o'clock P.M., the President and also both the Vice- 
Presidents being absent, Benjamin Russell Esq., being the 
oldest Counsellor present, took the chair; and the Record- 
ing, and also the Assistant Recording Secretary being like- 
wise absent from said meeting, Samuel J. Prescott was chosen 
Secretary pro tempore, then — 

Voted, that said meeting be adjourned until the first 
Wednesday in January next, then to meet at the Exchange 
Coffee House in Boston, at three o,clock p.m. 

A true Copy, Attest, 
S. J. Prescott, Rec^g Sec. pro tent} 

^ The following letter from Mr. Prescott is of interest. 

Boston, November, 15th, 1816. 
Dear Sir, 

Copy of the doings of the Am. Antiq. Society at their adjourned 
meeting, holden on the 13th inst. is annexed. There were not a sufficient num- 
ber of members present to do anything whatever, with propriety, excepting to 
choose a Rec. Sec. protem and adjourn. I imderstand from members that 
they were not informed in any way whatever that a meeting of the Society 
was to be holden at that time, which with many is cause of much regret. I 
did not, nor did those I have heard speak on the subject, observe any notifica- 
tion in the Boston papers respecting this adjourned meeting, as directed in 
Xth article of the Laws of the Society; nor do I hear of any member "living 
in Boston or its vicinity" having rec'd a notification of this meeting, nor of the 
anniversary meeting, agreeably to a vote of the Society passed, I believe, last 
winter. The Secretary, I presume, must have forgotten this vote. Many 
members who are also members of the Gen'l Court, would have attended this 
adjourned meeting, they say, if they could have known that a meeting was to 
be holden. 

The President and Coimcil, if I am correct in my recollection, are vested 
with the power of adding to the Committee of Ways and Means. I would, 
therefore, respectfully suggest to the President whether it might not be good 
policy at this time to appoint the Hon. Wm. Winthrop of Cambridge, and the 
Rev'd Charles Lowell of Boston in addition to this Committee. The first has 
much of the means himself, and is a bachelor, and I have no doubt would be 
gratified with the appointment. His only brother, the Hon. James W. you 
know. Sir, was chosen a Counsellor at the anniversary meeting, and I am con- 
fident that it was not displeasing to him. The Rev. Mr. Lowell is a very active, 



Meeting of January i, 181'/ 123 

A true entry of the proceedings of the meeting as furnished 
by the Rec'g Sec. pro tern. 

Att., Rejoice Newton Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JANUARY i, 1817 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, at the Exch'e Coffee House in Boston, on Wednes- 
day the ist of January 181 7. 

The President and Vice Presidents being absent, Benj. 
Russell, Esq., the senior Counsellor present, took the chair. 

Charles Shaw, Esq., of Boston was balloted for and ad- 
mitted a member of the Society. 

A motion to procure a copy of the ist Book of the Boston 
Records, was committed to Mr. Snelling and Maj. Russell. 

Mr. Prescott laid on the table the following vote (viz): 
" Voted that there be reprinted, under the direction of the 
President, as soon as may be, the 'Account of the American 

influential man, and most constantly attends all the meetings of the Society 
which are held here, and appears to take a great interest in the prosperity of it. 

If it should be thought advisable to appoint these two gentlemen, might it 
not be as well to appoint them immediately, and let them be advised of it at 
once, and have their names printed with the list of officers, which it is imder- 
stood is to be added to Parson Bentley's address? Shall I have their names 
added to the names of the Committee, in the Massachusetts Register? If 
their names are to be put into the Register, it is necessary that they be had 
immediately, as that part of the Register is, as I am informed by Deacon 
Loring this day, now in the press. He hopes to be able to have a proof of that 
sheet in all [sic] Monday next. If I could be favored with your pleasure, as 
to what I have suggested, relative to the addition to the Comm'ee of Ways and 
Means, by Monday even'g, or next Tuesday morning, I would immediately 
attend to it. Or if you think proper to write Deacon Loring on the subject, I 
would call there. 

The Rec. Sec'y has not yet favored me with the customary certificate of 
membership, which I took the liberty to request in a note to the President, 
before he left town, might be sent to my care, with certain publications, viz't for 
Rev. Horace Holley, Levi Hedge, Esq., Prof. John Bailey, Esq., and John H. 
Farnham, Esq. 

I saw your letter, Sir, to Maj'r Russell, of the nth. As the cause is not 
mentioned in the letter, which deprived us of the pleasure of seeing the President 
in the chair on Wednesday, I indulge the hope that it was not ill health, which 
prevented his attending. 

Very respectfully, I am. Sir, 

Your friend and servant, 

S. J. Prescott. 
Isaiah Thomas, Esq. 
Pres't Am. Antiq. Society. 
Worcester. 



124 American Antiquarian Society 

Antiquarian Society,' including the Petition to the General 
Court, Act of Incorporation, &c., as published by the Society 
in November, 1813. Also the Laws and By Laws of said 
Society, as revised — Likewise the Communication from the 
President of said Society made to the Members in October 
1814, with the Resolve of the Congress of the United States 
of Dec, 1 8 14, and the order of the Massachusetts Legis- 
lature of Feb'y, 18 15 (both in behalf and for the benefit 
of said Society) as heretofore pubHshed by order of the 
said Society. And that there be superadded thereto a 
complete List of the Officers and Members of the said Society. 
All to be included in one pamphlet, or publication," which, 
after debate, was committed to I. Thomas, Esq., and the 
Rev'd Mr. Bancroft, with power to execute the same, or not, 
as they may deem expedient.^ 

The Committee on the subject of the seal reported progress 
and had further time allowed them to comply with their 
directions from the Society. 

Voted, That the vote passed at a former meeting, requiring 
the Sec'y to notify the members in and about Boston, of the 
names of all candidates for admission to the Society, be re- 
pealed. 

Maj. Russell, one of the committee for procuring and 
pubhshing Mr. Bentley's Address, reported progress. 

Maj. Russell, one of the committee of ways and means, 
verbally reported, that the said committee had withdrawn 
the apphcation to the Legislature for a lottery, by not call- 
ing it up during the last session of that body — they judging 
it impossible to procure an Act at that time.^ 

The meeting then adjourned. 

Attest, 

N. G. Snelling, Secy. 

A true entry of the proceeding at the aforesaid meeting as 
furnished by N. G. Snelling. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g. Sec'y. 

^ No publication as called for by the vote was issued, nor was anything 
pubHshed until March, 1819. 

* An interesting account of this lottery may be found in a note written by 
Mr. B. T. Hill for the Transactions, vol. g, pp. 300-302. 



Meeting of June 26, iSiy 125 

MEETING OF JUNE 26, 1817 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Library-room in Worcester, June 26th, 181 7. 

That part of the Committee of Ways and Means residing 
in Worcester made a report, that it is expedient that a sub- 
scription be opened to procure a sum in order to enable the 
Society to build a suitable edifice for a Library and Cabinet 
&c.; to elect a proper person to apply to the members &c., 
in the United States for this purpose, and that this person 
be furnished with 500 Dollars to enable him to proceed on 
his mission.^ 

Voted, That the chairman of the committee of ways and 
means, forward to the other part of said committee, residing 
in and near Boston, a copy of the report now made for their 
consideration, and that further dehberation on this subject, 
by the Society, be deferred till a future meetng. 

Voted to adjourn this meeting to the first Monday in next 
month, then to meet at this place. 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by the Presi- 
dent. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 

1 The report is in the Society's files and is here given in full. 

I. Thomas, Esq., Worcester, June the nth, 1817. 

President of the A. A. Society, 

Sir : — That part of the committee of Ways and Means, residing in this 
place, have met, and maturely considered the duty assigned to them, and beg 
leave to report their final deliberations. 

We say that no plan is so eligible, or so likely to succeed as a subscription 
for the purpose of raising a sufficient sum of money, for erecting a proper 
building and paying a librarian. 

It is generally known that the Society is a National Institution, formed on 
the most liberal principles. That its objects ultimately tend to promote the 
general good of our country. Under these circumstances, we think the sub- 
scription paper should be presented to the friends of science, and literature 
pretty generally thro' the continent. 

With these impressions, we beg leave to recommend to the Society, to elect 
a proper person, whose business it should be to visit the various capitals in the 
United States, and soUcit a subscription for the purpose aforementioned. 
That he be furnished with proper credentials by the president, and have an 
adequate compensation for his time and expenses. 

As the Society is totally without funds, necessary for this undertaking, we 
would recommend in the first instance, that five hundred dollars should be 
raised amongst the members of the society by subscription, for the expense 
of the gentleman, chosen as above mentioned, and that a report of his pro- 
ceedings be made, at the next annual meeting of the society at Boston next 
October. 

We are with respect and esteem 
Sir your humble servants. 

Wm. Paine, Chairman. 



126 American Antiquarian Society 

MEETING OF JULY 7, 1817 

The American Antiquarian Society met agreeable to ad- 
journment July 7th, 181 7. 

But few members being present, no business of importance 
was transacted and the meeting adjourned. 

A true entry, as furnished by the President. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1817 

At an annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Society 
held at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, October 23d, 
A.D., 1817. The Recording Secretary being absent, James C. 
Merrill, Esq., was chosen Secretary pro tern. 

Voted, That the records of the proceedings of the Society 
for the last year be read. The records were read accord- 
ingly. 

Voted, That the hst of donations to the Society during the 
last year be read. The list of donations was read accord- 
ingly.^ 

^ The activity of at least one of the "receiving officers" is shown by the 
following advertisement copied from the Columbian Centinel of Aug. 24, 1817: 
Boston, Aug. 21, 1817. 

From the Portland Gazette. 
American Antiquarian Society. 
The subscriber, having some time since accepted the appointment of a 
"Receiving Officer of the American Antiquarian Society, for Maine," has the 
pleasure to acknowledge that in a late tour, the following interesting articles 
were presented him for the Museum. 

1. An Axe of French manufacture (having the fleiir de lis stamped on each 
side), taken about 20 years since from the depth of 6 feet below the surface of 
the earth, in digging a cellar on the point between the Sebastacook and Kenne- 
bec rivers, in Winslow; a few rods from the site of Fort Halifax. 

Given by Mr. Richard Thomas, proprietor of the building erected on the 
spot, who mentions that, at the same depth, and near the axe, was discovered 
a toad, in a state of motionless insensibility, but which recovered activity after 
about an hour's exposure to the air. The axe is ii inches long, and 5 in width 
at the edge. 

2. A Stone Pestle, as is supposed, of Indian manufacture, 20 inches in 
length, and two in diameter. 

3. An Indian Gouge, of stone, the edge formed obliquely. 

4. A small oval-shaped, wrought stone, supposed to have been a sinker 
to a net, of Indian manufacture, and similar in shape to one found in Charles 
River, some years since, (now in the Museum of Bowdoin College), and to one 
found by Gov. Winthrop Sargent, in the Mississippi Territory, and described 
by him in the Amer. Philos. Transact. 

The last three articles are presented by Mr. James Stackpole, of Waterville, 
having been discovered by him in that town. 



Meeting of October 2j, iSiy 127 

The report of the Sub-Council of Worcester being read, 

Voted, That the report be accepted and put on file.^ 

The report of the committee of ways and means being read 

Voted, That the report be put on file.^ 

Sundry communications from gentlemen in Europe, &c., 
accepting their appointments as members, &c,, &c., were 
laid before the Society by the Vice President.^ 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the year 
ensuing. 

Voted, To choose a committee to receive and count the 
votes. Isaiah Thomas, Jun., Esq., chosen. 

The following gentlemen were elected to the offices affixed 
to their names respectively 

Isaiah Thomas, Esq., President. 

Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-President. 

Hon. Timothy Bigelow, 2d Vice-President. 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins 

Hon. Edward Bangs 

Rev'd William Bentley, D.D. 

Benjamin Russell, Esq. 

Hon. James Winthrop, LL.D. 

Samuel J. Prescott, Esq. 

Hon. Oliver Fiske 

Hon. Nathaniel Paine 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jun. 

Hon. Abijah Bigelow 

Hon. Kilborn Whitman, 
for the old Colony 

Hon. George Thacher, 

for the District of Maine, 

5. An Indian stone chisel, or hatchet, with a grove [sic] for a withe, accord- 
ing to the ordinary fashion. 

6. An Indian Spear-head, of a species of silex about three inches long and 
two in width. 

The last two articles have been deposited in Boston, and are presented by 
Hon. W. M. Richardson, Esq. of Portsmouth, N. H. They were discovered 
in the town of Pelham, in that state, on ploughing a field. 

The subscriber will receive, for safe keeping and transmission to the Museum 
or Library of the Society, any articles illustrative of the former state of the 
country, or any communications relative to its history at any periods, whether 
consisting in antient or modem documents. 

Bath, Maine. Wm. Jenks. 

1 The report in full is as follows: Worcester, Oct'r i6th. 

The Subcouncil of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, have 
visited the Library, etc., and find the books, and other articles in good condi- 
tion, and in as good order as can be expected considering the places wherein 
they are deposited. Aaron Bancroft, per order. 

^ No report is on file save the one made at the June meeting already printed. 
' A long file of letters of acceptance beginning in February, 1813, is in the 
archives of the Society. 



Counsellors. 



128 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the Counsellors for the other States be ap- 
pointed by the President and Counsellors — ^ 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Recording Secretary. 

Nathaniel G. Snelling, Esq., Assistant Rec'g Sedy. 

Rev'd Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D. i 

Samuel M. Burnsede, Esq. [ Corresponding Sec'ys. 

Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D. j 

Isaiah Thomas, Jun., Treasurer. 

Samuel Jennison, Jun., Esq., Librarian and Cabinet Keeper. 

Voted, That receiving officers be appointed by the Presi- 
dent and Counsellors. 

The President "] 

Hon. Timothy Bigelow 

Rev'd John Pierce ^ Comtee. for Nominations. 

Dr. Josiah Bartlett | 

James C. Merrill, Esq. J 

Isaiah Thomas, Jun., Esq., v^^as chosen a committee to 
take from the office of the Secretary of this Commonwealth, 
any documents, etc., transmitted from Congress, and to 
transmit the same to the Librarian at Worcester .^ 

Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ] 

Rev'd William Bentley, D.D. > ComHee for Publications. 

William Paine, M.D. J 

Nathaniel G. Snelling, Esq. ) Com'tee to examine 

Stephen Codman, Esq. ) Treas'rs accts. 

Voted, That w^hen this meeting is adjourned, it shall be to 
the first day of the next session of the Legislature, to meet 
at the Exchange Coffee House, Boston, at 4 o'clock p.m. 

Voted to accept the report of the Treasurer and that he 
be requested to use all proper exertions for obtaining pay- 
ment from the members of the Society. 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be presented to 
Shubael Bell, Esq., for his very valuable donation of a copy 
of a series of letters, written by him to a gentleman formerly 
of Boston, and now resident at Smyrna, giving an account of 
improvements made in Boston within the last thirty years. 
And that James C. Merrill, Esq., be a committee to carry 
this vote into effect.^ 

1 Dec. 23, 181 7, the President was instructed by the Sub-Council to appoint 
the Counsellors and Receiving Officers but no list has been found. 

^ Application was made this year to Gov. Plumer for action by the New 
Hampshire Legislature giving the Society the state's pubUcations, and a resolu- 
tion to this effect was passed the following June. Similar action was taken in 
Connecticut in November, 181 7. 

* This is called in the book of donations: "Account of events &c., in Boston 
which have not appeared in the printed accounts of the town. With a large 
sheet map of the Capital [Hale's] 4to Ms." 



Meeting of January 14, 18 18 129 

Voted to choose two persons to address the Society at their 
next annual meeting in October, 181 8. That they be chosen 
by nomination. 

The Rev'd Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D., was chosen first 
orator.^ 

The Rev'd Horace Holley was chosen to officiate in case of 
the failure of Dr. Harris. 

Voted to adjourn as above, 
Attest, 

James C. Merrill, Sec^y pro tern. 

A true entry of the proceedings of the Society at the above 
meeting, as furnished by the Sec'y pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec'y. 

Treasurer's Report ^ 

The Treasurer of the American Antiquarian Society respectfully begs 
leave to report, that he has sent a circular letter to every member within 
this Commonwealth, conformable to a vote of the Society, stating the 
amount due, for yearly assessments, and taken every other step which 
he deemed compatible with his office as treasurer, to collect the same, 
but regrets extremely to state that very few have paid attention to the 
polite hint given them, or shewn that interest in the prosperity and 
future welfare of the Society, by attending the regular meetings, which 
every Society demands for its success and advancement. He therefore 
humbly suggests the propriety of striking from the list of its members 
all such as have never attended any [of] its meetings, or paid any part 
of their annual assessments, according to the Ninth Article of the Con- 
stitution, or that the Society would act upon the subject and adopt such 
measures as they should deem expedient, whereby it can be ascertained, 
who wish to be considered members of the Society in future. A schedule 
of arrearages due from its members over one year is annexed, the whole 
of which is submitted with great respect by your Treasurer. 
Boston, Oct'r 23, 1817. 



MEETING OF JANUARY 14, 1818 

At a meeting, (by adjournment) of the American Anti- 
quarian Society at the Exch'e Coffee House in Boston, on 
Wednesday the 14th day of Jan'y, 18 18. 

A letter f 'm the President to the Sec'y being read,^ 

1 Thaddeus Mason Harris resigned his membership on this date, but after- 
wards withdrew his resignation. 

* Printed from original report in Society's files, omitting the list of arrear- 
ages. 

* This letter is missing from the files. 



130 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to Wednesday the 
2 1 St ins't and that the Sec'y be requested to give notice of 
the same in one or more of the newspapers printed in Boston. 
Attest, 

N. G. Snelling, 

AssH Rec'g Sec'y. 

MEETING OF JANUARY 21, 1818 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Wednes- 
day 2ist January 1818. Samuel J. Prescott, Esq., in the 
Chair. 

Voted, That in consideration of the importance of having 
the Society's Catalogue in the hands of the members as soon 
as possible, Mr. I. Thomas, Jun., be a committee to procure 
the same when completed and cause ibianki copies to be 
printed in as neat and careful a manner as can be done in 
Boston. 

Voted, That Mr. I. Thomas, Jun., be requested to have a 
number of blank notifications printed in the usual form and 
sent to Worcester for the signature of the Recording Secre- 
tary, for the purpose of giving more particular notice of the 
Society's meetings to members in Boston and its vicinity as 
pr. vote of the Society some time since. 

Voted, That Mr. Snelling give notice of the next meeting of 
the Society in three or more of the newspapers printed in 
Boston. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the third Wednes- 
day of April next, to meet at this place at 4 p.m. 

Att., N. G. Snelling, Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

A true entry of the proceedings of the Society at the above 
meeting, as furnished by the Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF APRIL 15, 1818 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society held at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on 
Wednesday the 15th day of April a.d., 1818. 

Voted, That the Society now proceed to the choice of 
members. 



Meeting of April ij, 1818 131 

Voted, That Mr. Shaw be requested to receive, assort and 
declare the votes — who declared the following gentlemen 
elected members of the Society 

His Excellency James Monroe, Pres't of the U. States. 

Hon'le James Madison, late Pres't U. States. 

Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, West Tennessee. 

DocT. Daniel Drake, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

DocT. Calvin Conant, Putnam, Ohio. 

Hon'le Ethan A. Brown, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Hon'le William Wilson, Newark, Ohio. 

Mr. Seth Adams, Zanesville, Ohio. 

DocT. Samuel P. Hildreth, Marietta, Ohio. 

Maj. Jer'h R. Munson, Greenville, Ohio. 

Ethan Stone, Esq., Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Rev'd David A. Sherman, Knoxville, Tennessee. 

John A. McKinney, Rogersville, Tennessee. 

Mr. John Cranch, Bath, England. 

Rev'd Francis Parkman, Boston. 

H. M. Brackenridge, Esq. 

John E. Hall, Esq., Philadelphia. 

Caleb Atwater, Esq., Circleville, Ohio. 

The President communicated to the Society the present 
state of the library and cabinet, and suggested the pro- 
priety of taking some order relative to the erection of a 
building for the arrargement and preservation of the So- 
ciety's collections. Voted, That this subject be referred to 
an adjournment of the present meeting to be held at this 
place at the day afternamed. 

Mr. Snelling from the committee on the subject of the 
Society seal, made report, that it was impossible to have it 
executed and at his suggestion it was 

Voted, That a copy of the device adopted by the Society 
be taken and transmitted to Mr. Burnside, the Corresp'g 
Sec'y, at Worcester to be sent by him to Mr. J. G. Bogert of 
New- York, or some other member of the Society in that 
place, to be engraved in such manner as may be thought 
best, by the first artist in that City, in brass, silver or steel; 
the expense of which to be drawn from the Treasury of the 
Society.^ 

1 The report of the Committee was probably a verbal one as it is not on file. 
The following letter from Mr. Snelling undoubtedly contains the substance of 
the report. 

Boston, Feb'y 9, 1818. 
Isaiah Thomas, Esq., 

Sir: 

I duly rec'd your esteemed favor of the 19th ult'o. 
The Society met on the 21st and your letter was submitted to the members 



132 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the Rev'd Mr. Jenks and Mr. Snelling be a 
committee to design a diploma, and to submit a drawing of 
the same to the Society at a future meeting. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to meet in this 
place on the Tuesday after the next Artillery Election, at 
5 o'clock P.M., of which due notice to be given, for the special 
purpose of taking into consideration the site for the building 
contemplated to be erected for the use of the Society, and to 
devise means of raising funds for the purpose aforesaid. 

Att., Nath'l G. Snelling, AssH Rec'g Sec'y. 

A true entry of the minutes of proceedings as furnished by 
the Ass't Rec'g Sec'y- 

Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 

present, as requested. A minute of their proceedings will be found enclosed. 
It was not thought proper to act on the several important subjects suggested 
in your letter, till the adjourned meeting in April, previous to which, we shall 
take measures to procure as full a meeting as possible. 

You observe that "a seal for the Society is much wanted." By reference 
to records, you will find, that a gentleman, with myself, were appointed a 
committee on this subject nearly three years since. We attended to the duty 
and made report, and were instructed to make further exertions relative to 
the same. The truth is, that the committee have no choice of artists in this 
place. Mr. Peasley to whom we appUed, is the only man in Boston competent 
to work of this kind. In New York and Philadelphia there are many first rate 
foreign artists to whom the process of dye sinking is perfectly familiar. As you 
think it important, and as I understand from the treasurer that the Society 
are now in funds, I will suggest that this business be taken out of the hands 
of the present Committee, and that Mr. Burnside, our corresponding sec'y, 
be requested to enclose the device to some member of the Society in New York 
(say Mr. J. G. Bogert, with whom I beheve Mr. Burnside is acquainted) with 
a request to have it executed in the best manner either on steel, silver or brass, 
and draw upon the treasurer for such sum as may be necessary for that purpose, 
I am. Sir, 

With respect, Y'r Ob't Ser't 
N. G. Snelling. 

On Oct. 23, 1818, in sending the minutes of the Society's proceedings to 
Mr. Thomas, Mr. Snelling enclosed "the device for a seal and a dupHcate of 
the same to be disposed of as the vote of the Society passed some time since." 
Mr. Thomas in his diary wrote on March 27, 1819, "Wrote to Abner Reed, 
engraver, Hartford, respecting engraving a seal for the Am. Antiq'n So'y and 
sent him the drawing, or device," and under date of Jvme 17, 1819, " (Paid) seal 
for the Am. Antiq'n Society — cost $25.00." In the records of the Sub Council 
for December 20, 1 819 is the entry "A seal for the Society has been handsomely 
engraved and presented this evening to the Society by the President." It is 
supposed that this seal was lost with the plates of the Diploma and of the title 
page of the Archaologia Americana at a fire in Stationer's Hall in Boston. The 
Society has in its possession a small hand seal, with the letters A.A.S., which is 
evidently of early date, but may be the small seal mentioned by Baldwin as 
needed by the Society, in his letter to Charles C. Wright, Sept. 27, 1832. 



Meeting of June 25, 1818 133 

MEETING OF JUNE 2, 1818 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, June 2d, 1818. 

Mr. Prescott appointed Chairman — Mr. Isaiah Thomas, 
Jun., Secretary pro tern. 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be given to Shubael 
Bell, Esq., for a pamphlet presented by him, entitled **A 
sketch of the invasions or descents upon the British Islands, 
etc."; Sam'l J. Prescott, Esq. appointed a committee to at- 
tend to the same. 

Voted, That the further consideration of the location of 
the building, etc., be postponed to the annual meeting in 
October. 

Voted, That the meeting be dissolved. 

I. Thomas, Jun. 

A true record of the minutes of the proceedings as furn- 
ished by the Secretary pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JUNE 25, 1818 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Sikes Coffee House in Worcester and by adjournment at 
the Library room of the Society on Thursday the 25 th day 
of June A.D., 1818, at 3 o'clock p.m. 

Sundry concerns of the Society were discussed, and more 
particularly, the means and measures proper to be adopted 
to erect a suitable building for the use of the Society, on 
which subject it was — Voted, That a committee be chosen 
to investigate the subject and to report at an adjournment 
of the meeting. Hon. Nathaniel Paine, Hon. Abijah Bigelow 
and Rejoice Newton were chosen. 

Voted, To adjourn this meeting to Thursday the i6th of 
July next at 3 o'clock p.m., at the Library room. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



134 American Antiquarian Society 

MEETING OF JULY i6, 1818 

The American Antiquarian Society met on the i6th day of 
July according to adjournment from the 25th of June last, 
at the Library room. 

The committee appointed to consider and report on the 
subject of erecting a suitable building for the use of the 
Society, made report which was recommitted to the same 
committee. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to Monday next 
(July 20th) at 5 o'clock, to meet at that place. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec^y. 



MEETING OF JULY 20, 1818 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, from the i6th of July current, holden at the Library 
room July 20th a.d., 1818, 5 o'clock p.m. 

Voted, That the committee who made report at the meet- 
ing holden on the i6th inst. be excused from any further 
consideration thereof, and that the same report and the sub- 
ject on which the same was made, be committed to a new 
committee to consist of Levi Lincoln, Jun., and Rejoice 
Newton. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to Thursday, the 
23d inst., then to meet at this place at 7 o'clock p.m. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JULY 23, 1818 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society from the 20th inst. holden at the Library room July 
23d, 1818, at 7 o'clock P.M. 

The committee appointed at the last meeting not having 
been able to make any definite report on the subject referred 
to them, 

Voted that this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1818 135 

MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1818 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety, at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Friday 
the 23d day of October, 1818. 

Samuel Jackson Prescott, Esq., in the Chair. 

Voted, That the Society now proceed to the choice of 
officers for the year ensuing. — That Mr. I. Thomas, Jun., 
be a committee to receive, count and declare the votes, who 
reported that the following gentlemen were unanimously 
elected to the offices affixed to their respective names 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Revd. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-Prest. 

Hon. Timothy Bigelow, 2d Vice-Prest. 

Hon. Edw'd H. Robbins. 

Rev'd William Bentley. 

Benjamin Russell, Esq. 

Hon. James Winthrop. LL.D. 

Samuel J. Prescott, Esq. 

Hon. Oliver Fiske. 

Hon. Nathanial Paine. Y Counsellors. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jun. 

Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 

Hon. Kilborn Whitman, 

for the Old Colony. 
Hon. George Thacher, 

Dist. Maine. J 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Recording Sec'y. 
James C. Merrill, Esq., Assistant Sec'y. 
Rev'd T. M. Harris, D.D. | 

Rev'd Abiel Holmes, D.D. [ Corresponding Sec'ys. 
Sam'l M. Burnside. Esq. > 
Isaiah Thomas, Jun., Esq., Treasurer. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq., Librarian and Cabinet Keeper. 
Rev'd Charles Lowell. | Orators for the next 

Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D.) Anniversary.^ 

Voted, That, in case any Counsellor should decline serving 
the vacancy shall be filled by the Sub-Council at Worcester. 

Voted, That a committee of one be chosen to settle the 
Treasurer's accounts. Mr. William Bond was chosen for 
said committee. 

* Thaddeus Mason Harris and Horace Holley were chosen orators at the last 
annual meeting, but Mr. Harris had resigned his membership by letter dated 
the day of the meeting, and in June, 1818, again dechned to make the address. 
Mr. Holley having been elected President of a College in Kentucky wrote 
in August that it would be impossible for him to deliver the annual address. 
The vacancy was not filled and no address was delivered. 



136 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That this meeting be now adjourned to meet in this 
place in June [January] next, one week from the day of the 
meeting of the General Court. 
Attest, 

N. G. Snelling, AssH Rec*g Sec'y} 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by the Assist- 
ant Rec'g Sec'y- 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JANUARY 20, 1819 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society held at Concert Hall,^ Boston, on the twentieth day 
of January a.d., 1819. Benjamin Russell, Esq., presided. 

A letter from the President of the Society was read recom- 
mending several gentlemen for admission. 

Voted, To proceed to admission of members. That Mr. 
Thomas be a committee for collecting, sorting and counting 

^ Mr. Snelling's letter enclosing his minutes of the proceeding is here given 
in full: 

Boston, Oct. 23, 1818. 
Isaiah Thomas, Esq., Worcester. 

Sir: — 

I enclose you herewith the proceedings of ovu: Society this day: together 
with the device for a seal and a duplicate of the same to be disposed of as the 
vote of the Society passed some time since. 

You will perceive that the name of the Hon'ble Abijah Bigelow is not in- 
serted in the record of Counsellors elect. Mr. Prescott who prepared the votes, 
informs me that the omission was accidental. Perhaps the sub-council in your 
place will think of it to cause it to be inserted in the record. The absence of 
the book of the Society's records, was a serious embarrassment to our pro- 
ceedings. 

I am directed by the gentlemen present, to express to the government of 
the Society, in their behalf, their strong sense of the importance of having a 
catalogue of the Library printed, as soon as practicable, for distribution among 
the members. Mr. Bentley and many other gentlemen, who have large and 
valuable libraries have frequently expressed their intention of making donations 
to the Society whenever they have a catalogue of the books already in the 
possession of the Society to govern them in case of duplicates. 

I am w'th respect 

Your humble serv't, 

N. G. Snelling. 

* This was the first meeting in Concert Hall, a building which stood at the 
comer of Court and Hanover streets. The Exchange Coffee House had been 
burned in November previous. 



Meeting of January 20, i8ig 137 

votes. The following gentlemen were unanimously elected 
members : 

Hon. John Thompson, Chillicothe, Ohio. 
Hon. David Smith, Columbus, Ohio. 
Guy W. Doane, Esq., Circleville, Ohio. 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq., Worcester. 
Hon. Enoch Lincoln, Fryeburg, Maine. 
Stephen Williams, Esq., Northborough. 
Samuel Williams, Esq., London. 
William Scott Jenckes, Havana. 
John Brazer, Esq., Prof. Cambridge. 

Voted, To act upon the nomination of Samuel A. Bradley, 
Esq., of Fryeburg and the Hon. Bailey Bartlett of Haverhill. 
On counting the votes it appeared that they were unani- 
mously elected members. 

Voted, That the Sub-Council at Worcester be requested to 
appoint the usual committees, Counsellors and Receiving 
Officers of other States for the ensuing year.^ 

^ On February i, 1819, the Sub-Council chose the following: 

Counsellors for other States than Massachusetts for the current year. 

Vermont, Elijah Paine, LL.D., Williamston. 
New Hampshire, His Excell'y William Plumer, Epping. 
Rhode Island, Thomas Lloyd Halsey, Esq., Providence. 
Coimecticut, BenjamAj Silliman, Prof'r. 
New York, Hon. Stephen Van Renssalaer, Albany. 
New Jersey, Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D., Prof'r Princeton. 
Pennsylvania, Charles Caldwell, M.D., Philadelphia. 
Pennsylvania, west of Allegany, Rev. Timothy Alden, Pres. Allegany Col., 
Meadville. 
. Maryland, John Leeds Bozman, Esq., Talbot County. 
7 District of Columbia, George Wash'n Parke Custis, Esq. 
Virginia, Hon. Daniel Shefpey, Wythe County. 
North Carolina, Hon. William Gaston, Raleigh. 
South Carolina, Hon. Langdon Cheves, Charleston. 
Georgia, Hugh McCall, Esq., Savannah. 
Kentucky, Alexander K. Marshall, Esq., Washington. 
Ohio, Caleb Atwater, Esq., Circleville. 
Tennessee, Moses Fisk, Esq., Hilham. 
Mississippi, Hon. Westthrop Sargent, Natchez. 
Louisiana, Hon. James Brown, New Orleans. 
Alabama, Col. Silas Dinsmore, St. Stephens. 
Missouri Territory, His Excel'y William Clark, St. Louis. 

Receiving Officers for the Current Year. 

Massachusetts, Isaiah Thomas, Jun'r, Boston. 
Old Colony, Nathaniel Spooner, Esq., Plymouth. 
Maine, Oliver Bray, Esq., Portland. 

Hon. Mark Langdon Hill, Phippsburgh. 
Rhode Island, William Wilkinson, Esq., and Samuel W. Bridgham, Esq., 
Providence. 



138 American Antiquarian Society 

John Farmer of Amherst, N. H., nominated by the Presi- 
dent. 

John Cranch of Bath, England, by Mr. Bond. 

Voted, That the Secretary communicate the proceedings 
of this meeting to the Recording Secretary at Worcester 
without delay. 

Voted, That the committee appointed to print a Catalogue 

Connecticut, Rev. Thomas Robbins, East Windsor. 
New York, Theodric R. Beck, M.D., Albany. 
John W. Francis, M.D., New York. 
Jonathan Goodhue, Esq., New York. 
Amasa Paine, Esq., Troy. 
New Jersey, Abraham Clark, M.D., Newark. 
Pennsylvania, Mathew Carey, Esq., Philadelphia. 
Rev. Francis Herron, Pittsburgh. 
JuDAH Colt, Esq., Erie. 
Roger Alden, Esq., Meadville. 
Maryland, Rev. James Inglis, Baltimore. 

James Hugh McCulloh, M.D., Baltimore. 
Virginia, Rev. John H. Rice, Richmond. 
District of Columbia, Samuel Eliot, Esq., Washington. 
Kentucky, John H. Farnham, Esq., Frankfort. 
Ohio, Hon. Paul Fearing, Marietta. 

Dudley W. Rhodes, M.D., Zanesville. 
Hon. David Smith, Columbus. 
Nathan Guilford, Esq., Cincinnati. 
Rev. Robert G. Wilson, Chillicothe. 
Tennessee, Rev. Gideon Blackburn, NashvUie. 
Rev. David A. Sherman, Knoxville. ' 
John A. McKinney, Esq., Rogersville, Hawkins County. 
Louisiana, Mons. Sorrel, St. Mary, Attacapas. 

At the same meeting the Sub-Coimcil chose a list of so-called corresponding 
members, but without defining their duties. It is presumed that they were 
expected to keep in more active touch with the officers of the Society than the 
other active members. The following is the list : 

Rev. Wm. Jenks, Boston. 

William Barton, Esq., Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

Mons. Sorrel, St. Mary, Attacapa, Louisiana. 

Rev. Gideon Blackburn, Nashville, Tennessee. 

Hon. David Smith, Columbus, Ohio. 

Hon. Judge John Thompson, Chillicothe, Ohio. 

Hon. Paul Fearing, Marietta. 

Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth, Marietta, Ohio. 

Dr. Dudley W. Rhodes, Zanesville, Ohio. 

Dr. Daniel Drake, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Nathaniel Guilford, Esq., Cincinnati, Ohio. 

John Hay Farnham, Esq., Frankfort, Kentucky. 

Silas Dinsmore, Esq., St. Stephens, Alabama. 

Hon. Sam'l Latham Mitchill, New York. 

The sub-council also elected as a CommiUee of Nominations 

The President 

Rev. Charles Lowell, Boston. 

Rev. Wm. Jenks. 



Address to the Members 139 

of the Library and of the Society be requested to print the 
same without delay .^ 

Voted, To adjourn to the next regular meeting of the 
Society. 

Attest, 

James C. Merrill, 

Ass't Rec'g Sec'y of Am. Ant^n Society. 

A true Record of the proceedings as furnished by the 
Assistant Recording Secretary. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN 
ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 
February i, 1819. 

There having been a large accession of members to the 
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, since its objects 
were communicated, the Government of this National In- 
stitution, residing in Massachusetts, have judged it to be 
their duty to address a summary account of its principles 
and progress to all who have been elected. This measure is 
adopted with a confidence, that those Members, if any, who 
may have become languid, will be reanimated in its service— 
and that those who are unapprized of its views and con- 
cerns, will discharge their duty with cheerful ardour, when 
they know what service they can perform. 

Our Institution, in all its objects and concerns, is intended 
and considered as National, although it derives its charter 
and its national appellation from the Legislature of Mas- 
sachusetts, by an act passed October 12, 181 2. This local 
authority was resorted to from doubts having been expressed, 
whether Congress had the power to grant a charter with- 
out the District of Columbia. Its Members are selected 
from all parts of the Union. Its respectability is inferred 
from its numbers, and from its comprising men of the first 

* In March, 18 19, the Society published an Address to the Members of the 
American Antiquarian Society: together with the Laws and Regulations of the 
Institution, and a List of Donations to the Society since the last Publication, 
Worcester: Printed by William Manning, March, 1819, in a pamphlet of 38 
pages. The " Address to the Members " is here reprinted after the records of 
this meeting. 



140 American Antiquarian Society 

standing and intelligence in the nation, and some of the first 
distinction in other countries. Most other societies, al- 
though of a benevolent and useful character, are necessarily 
limited in their views and duration. The objects of this 
Institution are commensurate with the lapse of time, and its 
benefits will be more and more accumulating in the pro- 
gression of the ages. As the antiquities of our country, by 
various means, are rapidly decreasing, an Institution whose 
business will be to collect and preserve such as remain and 
can be obtained, must be viewed as highly important. 

The chief objects of the inquiries and researches of this 
Society, which cannot too soon arrest its attention, will be 
American Antiquities, natural, artificial, and literary. As 
all things, which in their nature are durable, if preserved from 
casualty and the ravages of time, in a course of years will 
be antique, it will also be an object of this Society to deposit, 
from time to time, such modern productions, as will, with 
accuracy, denote to those who succeed us, the progress of 
literature, the arts, manners, customs, and discoveries of the 
present age. 

Thus, by an attention to these objects, which the Society 
hopes to promote by the exertion of its Members residing in 
various sections of this vast continent, the utility of the 
Institution will speedily be realized, and may in time vie 
with similar institutions in Europe, which are now so justly 
celebrated. 

Each individual of the Society, we persuade ourselves, 
will imbibe a belief, that much of its reputation and useful- 
ness depends on his individual efforts. Members in our 
own country, particularly, are not considered as honourary, so 
far as to exempt them from acting in the promotion of the 
honour and prosperity of the Institution. All, we trust, 
will feel an interest in collecting and forwarding to the Presi- 
dent, Vicepresidents, Counsellors, Secretaries, Librarian, or 
other Receiving Officers of the Institution, such antiquities 
of our country, whether of nature or of art, as may be por- 
table, and which he can obtain; and authentick accounts 
of such as carmot be transported ; with such articles of modern 
date as are curious and interesting, and will tend to aid the 
establishment. 

It is requested that articles of Indian fabrication may be 
accompanied with some account of the place of their deposit, 
probable age, supposed use, and any other matter which 



Address to the Members 141 

may elucidate their history. Authentick accounts of Indian 
mounds, fortifications, and other monuments and remains, 
communicated by mail, or through the Receiving Officers, 
to either of the Secretaries, are particularly desirable. In- 
formation of this kind, pubKshed under the sanction of the 
Society, will prevent much publick imposition, and seems ap- 
propriate to the Institution. This request is particularly 
addressed to Members residing in the Western States, where, 
it is supposed, such remains are the most numerous and 
perfect. A Committee for pubHcation are now preparing, 
and will commit a volume to the press, as soon as they can 
be furnished with sufficient original materials for the purpose. 

Although the Society is in its infancy, we are happy to 
announce, that it is expanding into manly growth, and, with 
due patronage and exertion, will become pre-eminently use- 
ful. The Cabinet is not yet extensive; but the Members, 
we trust, will soon make it highly respectable and useful, 
by their occasional contributions. Funds are about to be 
procured, from the interest of which a Librarian and Cabinet 
Keeper may be supported, whose business shall be to at- 
tend to the property of the Society, and to keep it in a state 
of Preservation. 

The Catalogue of our books is already respectable. Our 
Library, of about 5,000 volumes, consists principally of books 
printed in the three last and present centuries. Some are 
of the fifteenth century. Many of these are peculiarly 
valuable, particularly American authors; as by them we learn 
the state of rehgion and hterature at the period of their 
date. We have also files of the first newspapers published 
in British North America, which, probably, are the earliest 
printed in this Western world. Also, some of the first periodi- 
cal works which appeared in Europe. Congress, and a number 
of the State Legislatures, have passed acts and resolves for 
furnishing the Society with a copy of all their printed statutes, 
and such as hereafter shall be printed, together with their 
other printed documents. These, so far as they have been 
printed, have been deposited in the Library. This Hberality, 
it may be presumed, will become general. 

Among the articles for this deposit, books of every de- 
scription, including pamphlets and magazines, especially those 
that were early printed, either in South or North America; 
files of newspapers of former times, or of the present day, are 
particularly desirable; as are specimens, with written ac- 



142 American Antiquarian Society 

counts respecting them, of fossils, handicrafts of the Aborig- 
ines, &c., manuscripts, ancient and modern, on interesting 
subjects, particularly those which give accounts of remarkable 
events, discoveries, or description of any part of the conti- 
nent or islands in the American seas, maps, charts &c.* 

With a view to the safety of the Library and Cabinet, an 
inland situation has been preferred. By the liberality of 
the President, a suitable building will speedily be erected in 
Worcester. A site sufficiently spacious and commodious has 
been obtained, and the materials for building are nearly 
prepared. 

It may be thought superfluous to observe, that a Society of 
this kind cannot be supported without some permanent funds. 
The munificence of the Founders has given a name and stand- 
ing to our Institution; but further agency is necessary for 
its future nourishment and support. Bodies of this cast, 
however well formed and fashioned their structure, require 
some inherent stamina, or self-renovating power, as the spring 
of perpetual life and action. Donations, legacies, contri- 
butions, and royal patronage, are the support of those in 
Europe, and have raised them to a state of eminence. And 
it is not doubted that there are persons in this country, by 
whose aid the American Antiquarian Society will be enabled 
to pursue those researches, so desirable, into the antiquities 
of this New World, and to rescue them from the ravages of 
time, for the use and improvement of the Historian, the 
Philosopher, and all scientifick men of our country, of the 
present age, and of posterity. 

OLIVER FISKE, per order. 

* There are but few who do not wish their labours to be preserved. Every 
author, every printer or pubhsher of a book, or pubhck journal, by sending 
a copy of each of the works they write, print or publish, to the Library of this 
Society, will have them recorded, and deposited in the best place possible for 
security and preservation; and, this not being a circulating library, they will 
remain for centuries subject to the inspection of historians and scientifick 
men, and be a source of high gratification to Antiquaries of succeeding ages. 

Files of Newspapers, Magazines, or other periodical works, can be sent 
annually to Receiving Officers in the State where they are published, who will 
forward them to the place of deposit. 



Meeting of August 5, 181Q 143 

MEETING OF JUNE 24, 1819 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society at their 
Library room in Worcester on Thursday the 24th of June a.d., 
18 1 9, at 3 o'clock P.M. 

Hon. Oliver Fiske (the oldest Counsellor present) pre- 
siding in the absence of the President and Vice-Presidents. 

Edward D. Bangs was appointed Secretary pro tern, in the 
absence of the Recording and Corresponding Secretaries — 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the first Thurs- 
day of August next, being the fifth of said month, at 3 o'clock 
P.M., at this place. 

A true record 

Att., Edw. D. Bangs, Sec'y pro tern. 

A true Record as furnished by the Sec'y pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec^y. 



MEETING OF AUGUST 5, 1819 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden at their Library room in Worcester on Thurs- 
day the 5th of August, 18 1 9. 

Voted, That, as the Society have made two unsuccessful 
applications to the Govenor of New- York for the Laws, &c., 
of that State, the Society will make no further appHcation at 
present for that purpose.^ 

Voted, That the President and one Corresponding Secre- 
tary be a committee to acknowledge the receipt of a com- 
munication from the Historical Society of Philadelphia. 

Voted, That, at the request of the President, a committee 
be appointed to superintend the building, now erecting by 
him for the use of the Society.^ 

^ The Society made several attempts to have the New York Legislature 
take similar action to that of the legislatures of other states with regard to 
furnishing the Society with the laws of the state, and Governor CHnton had 
frequently expressed his sympathy, but all attempts had hitherto failed. A 
final attempt was made in the same line in 1846, but met with the same lack 
of success. 

2 Mr. Thomas had offered to contribute about an acre of land, 150,000 
bricks and $2000 in cash for a building as early as May 181 7, and the Society 
had made an attempt to raise other money by subscription. Mr. Thomas finally 
erected the building himself and devised it to the Society in his will. See 
Diary of I. Thomas in Transactions, vol. 10, pp. 15-16. 



144 American Antiquarian Society 

Levi Lincoln, Jun., Nathaniel Maccarty and Rejoice New- 
ton, Esqs., chosen. 

Voted, That two be added to the committee of publication. 
Samuel M. Burnside and Edward D. Bangs, Esqs., chosen. 

Voted, That the Communication from Samuel L. Mitchill, 
LL.D., of February 24th, 1819, be committed to the com- 
mittee of publication.^ 

Voted, To adjourn this meeting to the third Tuesday in 
September next at three o'clock p.m., to meet at this place. 
Alt., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec^y. 



MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 16, 1819 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society on Tuesday the i6th of September, at their Library 
room in Worcester. 

Voted, That Samuel Jennison, Esq., be added to the com- 
mittee of publication. 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to report the prog- 
ress and state of the Society, at the annual meeting in October 
next. Rejoice Newton and Edward D. Bangs, Esqs., chosen. 

Several other subjects tending to promote the interest of 
the Society were discussed, but no votes were passed on 
them. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved.^ 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1819 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety holden at Forster's HoteP in Boston on Saturday the 
23d day of October A.D., 1819 — Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D., 
ist Vice-President (in the absence of the President) in the 
chair. 

' This article was published in vol. i of the Transactions with other letters 
from Dr. Mitchill. 

2 Thomas records in his Diary that the Society met on Sept. i6th and ad- 
journed, met again by adjournment on the i8th and adjourned to the 23rd, 
and met again by adjournment on the 23rd, but the record book gives all the 
proceedings under date of Sept. 16. 

* William Forster kept the "Concert Hall" on Court Street in 1819. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8i^ 145 

Voted, To proceed to the admission of members. 
The following gentlemen were admitted members of the 
Society — 
Henry Warren, Esquire, Plymouth. 
Thomas Williams, Esquire, Roxbury. 
John Farmer, Esquire, Amherst, N. H. 
Hon. William M. Richardson, Portsmouth, N. H. 
John D. Clipford, Esq., Lexington, Kentucky. 
John Jackson, Esq., United States' Agent to the Ohio Indians, 

Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Samuel Williams, Esq., Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Hon. Isaac Parker, Boston. 
Ward Nicholas Boylston, Princeton. 
William Gibbes Hunt, Esq., Lexington, Kentucky. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the year en- 
suing. The following gentlemen were chosen — 
Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. , 
Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-Presi. 
Hon. Timothy Bigelow, 2d Vice-Prest. 
Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 1 

Rev'd William Bentley, D.D. 
Benjamin Russell, Esq. 
Hon. James Winthrop, LL.D. 
Rev'd William Jenks. 
Hon. Oliver Fiske. 

Hon. Nathaniel Paine. y Counsellors. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jun. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 
Hon. Kilborn Whitman for 

the Old Colony. 
Hon. Mark Langdon Hill for 

the Dist. of Maine. 
Rejoice Newton, Esq., Recording Secretary. 
James C. Merrill, Esq., Asst. Rec'g Sec'y. 

^llU^^r^lt?^^''''''] Corresponding 



Rev'd Abiel Holmes, D.D. . Secretaries 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. ' secretaries. 

Voted, To choose an assistant Corresponding Secretary. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq., was chosen Ass't Corres'g Sec'y. 
Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., Treasurer. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq., Librarian and Cabinet-Keeper. 
The President 1 

Hon. Timothy Bigelow | 

Rev'd John Pierce j> Committee of Nomination. 

Dr. Josiah Bartlett 
James C. Merrill, Esq. J 
Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ^ 
Rev'd William Bentley, D.D. I 

Rev'd William Jenks ;. Committee of Publication. 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq. J 



146 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the Counsellors be authorized to appoint all 
officers of the Society out of the Commonwealth for the year 
ensuing, and to fill any vacancies that may occur within the 
State.^ 

Report of the committee appointed to investigate and re- 
port on the general progress and state of the Society was 
read, accepted and referred to the committee of pubHcations, 
and which is as follows (viz) 

"The committee appointed to investigate and report on 
the general progress and state of the Society ask leave to 
report. 

"That they find the present situation of the Society much 
more promising than they could have anticipated. And 
when the scattered situation of its members, the small num- 
ber who appear to have been actively engaged in promoting 
its objects, and that those objects are for the benefit of pos- 
terity and Httle calculated to excite the feeHngs of those con- 
cerned in its present transactions, are taken into view, it is 
beHeved that no Society laboring under similar embarrass- 
ments, has so rapidly risen into honorable standing or re- 
ceived more flattering attentions from the most respectable 
portion of the community. There is however much remain- 
ing to be done and which calls loudly for immediate exertion. 
The antiquities of our country are fast disappearing and the 
ravages of time are sweeping off many valuable reUcs which 
may yet be saved by seasonable attention. Would the mem- 

1 On Nov. II, 1819, at a meeting of the Sub-Council all the Counsellors for 
other states than Massachusetts were reappointed except the following: 

Pennsylvania, Peter S. Du Ponceau, Esq., in place of Charles Caldwell. 
South Carolina, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Esq., in place of Lang- 
don Cheves. 
The Receiving Officers for the current year were reappointed with the fol- 
lowing additions: 

New Hampshire, John Farmer, Esq'r, Amherst. 
Boston, James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Kentucky, John D. Clifford; Esq'r, Lexington. 
Ohio, Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth, Esq'r. 
Arkansas, John H. Farnham. 

The Corresponding Members for the preceding year were reappointed 
excepting Hon. Paux Feaiong, Esq., of Marietta, Ohio, and the following were 
added : 

John Farmer, Amherst, New Hampshire. 
John Hay Farnham, Arkansas. 
Rev. Pres. Horace Holley. 
John D. Clifford, Esq., Lexington. 
For the Committee of Nomination, previously chosen by the Society, the 
following were appointed: The President, Rev. Charles Lowell, Rev. 
William Jenks of Boston. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8ig 147 

bers, dispersed as they are through the whole United States, 
watch over the sections of country in which they reside, many 
curiosities which are already antique and which develop the 
early history of our country, may be preserved from de- 
struction and secured in this national depository. But with- 
out this individual exertion, much, very much, of our early 
history must soon be irretrievably lost. 

" Since the last report on the state of the Society, many 
valuable additions have been made, both to the Library and 
Cabinet; the former of which now contains nearly six thou- 
sand volumes and the latter is respectable. The Library em- 
braces many rare and valuable works, some of which, it is 
believed, can not be found elsewhere in the country. It must 
soon become a profitable resort for the antiquarian and his- 
torian, from which they may derive much gratification and 
instruction. But, altho' the books have been preserved with 
care, yet the Library and Cabinet are at present in so dis- 
ordered a state, for the want of a suitable place of deposit, 
that their utility is in a great degree lost. This we hope will 
not long be its situation. 

" Within the last year, our venerable and enterprising Presi- 
dent, in praise of whose munificence too much can not be 
said, has erected at great expense, a handsome, commodious 
and substantial building for the use and benefit of the So- 
ciety. It will probably be ready for the reception of the 
Library and Cabinet at some time during the next season. 
It is sufl&ciently large to answer all the purposes of the So- 
ciety for many years, and is so constructed, that whenever 
more room shall be wanted additions may be made without 
disfiguring, but would rather increase the elegance of the 
edifice. 

" The President has also procured to be engraved, at his 
own expense, a beautiful and appropriate Diploma^ and a seal, 
for the use of the Society. The Diploma has frequently been 
called for, and the manner in which it shall be distributed 

^ The original copper-plate of this diploma, which was engraved by Abner 
Reed, is supposed by tradition to have been destroyed in a fire at Stationer's 
Hall, Boston, but other records make it appear that it was lost and a search 
for it was made in 1839 in New York and Philadelphia without result. Accord- 
ing to a vote of the Council of April 23, 1839, it was voted "That the Librarian 
be requested to communicate with Mr. Pendleton of New York and request 
him to return the diploma plate of the Society, or furnish another of equal 
value, or pay for the one lost." See also note printed under the record of the 
meeting of May 28, 1845. During the past year, 191 1, it has been suggested 
that the Society return to its old custom of issuing diplomas.. 



148 American Antiquarian Society 

will undoubtedly receive the immediate attention of the 
Society. 

"Presents have been made, in a very honorable manner, 
by the General Government, the several States of Massachu- 
setts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, 
Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana of their 
respective laws and the journals of the different branches of 
their Legislatures, from the first organization of their Govern- 
ments. Could we obtain similar donations from the other 
States of the Union, it would become a valuable collection of 
an important portion of the history of each State. It is to 
be hoped the respectable members of this Society, residing 
within the several States which have not complied with our 
request to be furnished with their Laws, &c., will have in- 
fluence enough with their respective Legislatures to persuade 
them to enable us to complete this collection. The historian 
might then find in a single room, arranged for his convenient 
use, what he would otherwise be under the necessity of travel- 
ing from Maine to Louisiana to procure. 

'' Since the last year, several communications have been 
made to the Society which are thought worthy of publica- 
tion. Among them are minute and accurate surveys of many 
of the ancient mounds and fortifications of the Western 
Country by Caleb Atwater, Esq., of Circleville, Ohio, done 
at the request and by the pecuniary assistance of the Presi- 
dent. These are accompanied by drawings and particular 
descriptions of these wonders of ancient days. Mr. Atwater 
discovers an intimate acquaintance with the objects of his 
research and great zeal in the pursuit. Could the Society 
find means to publish these papers, it is beheved that much 
light might be thrown on a subject, which has long remained 
in obscurity or has only been brought to view in small and 
detached parts. 

" Whenever the building, which is now in a state of forward- 
ness, shall be completed, it will be highly important that the 
Society should have a Librarian and Cabinet-Keeper, who 
can devote a considerable portion of his time to the arrange- 
ment of the Library and Cabinet. To enable the Society to 
avail themselves of the assistance of such a person as would 
be competent to the task, a considerable compensation will 
undoubtedly be required. But the state of the Treasury, at 
present, forbids every undertaking which shall subject the 
Society to expense. The plan heretofore adopted for raising 



Meeting of October 2j, i8ig 149 

funds has altogether disappointed those who projected it. 
The largeness of the admission fee for Hfe and the difficulty 
attending the collection of an annual tax from persons dis- 
persed over so great an extent of territory, will probably con- 
tinue to keep our Treasury empty. Would it not be ad- 
visable to diminish the admission fee and abohsh the annual 
tax? Your committee believe that every member would 
cheerfully pay such a fee as would soon place the Treasury in 
a situation which would meet all the common expenses of the 
Society. Its principal expenses thus far incurred, have been 
defrayed by our worthy President, who has cherished this 
darling child with paternal affection. Should his support be 
withheld the Society would soon be in a bad condition unless 
some other resource could be found. 

'' The business of the Society has heretofore devolved on a 
small number, tho most of its members have contributed 
something towards increasing our collections. There does 
not appear to be that interest generally taken in its pros- 
perity, which is necessary to ensure its constant growth, and 
that degree of usefulness, which its founders anticipated. 
Yet there are many members in the different sections of the 
United States, who manifest a zeal in its pursuits, which the 
acknowledged importance of the institution demands and 
which a better opportunity would render productive of much 
good. Indeed, it is believed that the time is not far distant, 
when the purposes, for which the Society was instituted will 
be thought of so much importance to the country as to claim 
the active cooperation of most of its members and will en- 
sure its success. 

Rejoice Newton 
Edward D. Bangs." 

Voted, To postpone the consideration of the Treasury. 

Voted, On motion of the Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, as a 
Society, to meet the Society of Pilgrims at Plymouth in 
December, 1820, to celebrate the expiration of the second 
Century from the landing of our forefathers.^ 

^ A Committee chosen by the Sub-Council, Jan. 15, 1819, had reported as 
follows: 

Your committee, appointed to take into consideration the expediency of a 
public commemoration of the landing of our forefathers at the close of the 
second century since that auspicious event, have attended to that service, and 
beg leave to report : 

The close of the second century since the landing of our forefathers is a 
period, which peculiarly invites to a review of the rise, progress, and final 



150 American Antiquarian Society 

The President and First Vice-President were chosen a 
committee to confer with the Society of the Pilgrims on that 
subject. 

Voted, That every member, who shall have paid his assess- 
ments, shall be entitled to a diploma by applying to the 
Recording Secretary. 

Voted, To adjourn without day. 
Attest, 

James C, Merrill, AssH Rec^g Sec'y. 

A true copy of the proceedings as furnished by the Assist- 
ant Recording Secretary 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JANUARY 27, 1820 

At a special meeting of the American Antiquarian Society 
holden at Worcester, at Col. Sikes' Inn, on Thursday the 27th 

establishment of our Commonwealth. The little band of Pilgrims has become 
a numerous and powerful people. We are now in the possession of every bless- 
ing which renders a country dear, and life valuable. Our present state of high 
prosperity cannot be traced to any extraneous assistance which the first settlers 
of our country received from foreign nations; nor will it be found to originate 
in any peculiar qualities of our country itself. Our ancestors were persecuted 
refugees from the old world, and they without assistance encountered with the 
dangers of the wilderness, of the difficulties of a severe climate and a stubborn 
soil. 

To the discriminative characters of our forefathers, and to the institutions 
and habits which they transmitted are we to look, for the causes of our present 
situation. The series of events thro' the last two himdred years fully display 
the legitimate effects of the principles of the men who laid the foundation of 
our Commonwealth. 

Plymouth bears the traces of the first footsteps of our venerated ancestors; 
there, our retrospection of past events may be made with the most delightful 
emotion; there, the debt of gratitude to the fathers of our country will be felt 
with the greatest animation and warmth. Therefore resolved. 

That a Committee be appointed to write to the Society of the Pilgrims in 
Plymouth, proposing an united celebration of the 20th of December, 1820, in 
that town, by them and the American Antiquarian Society, in commemoration 
of the landing of our forefathers. 

All which is humbly submitted, 
Worcester, February ist, 1819. Aaron Bancroft. 

In accordance with a vote passed in February the President had been in 
correspondence with Mr. Barnabas Hedge of Plymouth offering to unite with 
the Pilgrim Society in celebrating this anniversary and having received a reply 
that "there is no particular society which conducts the proceedings on such 
anniversaries, but that they are usually regulated by the Selectmen," had asked 
Mr. Hedge to transmit the letter offering cooperation to the Selectmen. (From 
minutes of the Sub-Council.) 



Meeting oj January 2y, 1820 , 151 

day of January a.d., 1820, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon of 
said day — Isaiah Thomas, Esq., in the Chair. 

Voted, That Benjamin Russell and Stephen Codman 
Esquires be a committee to wait on William B. Fowle, Esq., 
executor of the last will and testament of the late Rev'd 
William Bentley, D.D., and request him to take possession of 
the property bequeathed by said will to this Society and 
preserve the same for their use until it shall be delivered pur- 
suant to said will.^ 

Voted, That Isaiah Thomas, Esq., be and he hereby is fully 
authorized and empowered, in behalf of this Society, to re- 
ceive of Wm. B. Fowle, Esq., executor of the last will and 
testament of the late Rev'd William Bentley, D.D., of Salem, 
the donations made by said Bentley, in and by his said will, 
and to give full discharges to said executor therefor, with 
full power to use all necessary and proper means to obtain 
all the articles given by said will to said Society, and to cause 
the same to be removed and deposited in the Society's house 
in Worcester. 

Voted, That the 9th Article of the Laws of this Society be 
and the same is hereby repealed, and that the following be 
substituted therefor (viz) 

Every member who shall produce a certificate to the Re- 
cording Secretary from the Treasurer, that he has paid six or 
more dollars to the funds of the Institution shall be entitled 
to a diploma, to which the seal of the Society shall be affixed, 
signed by the President and countersigned by the Record- 
ing Secretary, and shall be exempt from an annual tax. 
Every person residing in any part of the United States, who 
may in future be admitted into the Society, shall pay six 
dollars towards the funds of the Society for contingent ex- 
penses, and any individual who is now a member, or shall in 
future be admitted, who shall neglect for one year, the pay- 
ment of six dollars, after having been called on by the Treas- 
urer, in person or by his written order, shall be considered as 
having abdicated his interest in the Society and no longer a 
member.^ 

* Mr. Bentley left to the Society "all his German and all his New England 
printed books — his cabinet with all its contents, all his manuscripts not in his 
own hand, and all his paintings and engravings." (Records of Sub-Council, 
Jan. 6, 1820.) 

^ The treasurer gave printed notice of this amendment in a circular, a 
specimen of which is in the Society's files. 



152 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That Samuel Jennison, Esq., be a member of the 
publishing committee in the place of the late Rev'd William 
Bentley deceased. 

Voted, That Abijah Bigelow and Edward D. Bangs, Esqs., 
be a committee to draft resolutions, to be entered on the 
record, expressive of the respect, which this Society enter- 
tains for the late learned Doct. William Bentley, of their 
grateful recollection of his services as a member and an 
ofl&cer, and acknowledgement of the valuable legacy, be- 
queathed by him to this Society. 

The Committee aforesaid made the following report (viz.) 

"Resolved, That we deeply deplore the loss sustained by 
this Society and the hterary world, in the death of the Rev'd 
William Bentley, D.D., an original member and Counsellor of 
our Institution, to the prosperity of Which he. essentially con- 
tributed, by his learning, industry and devotion to its im- 
portant objects. 

"Resolved, That we entertain a lively sense of gratitude for 
the highly valuable and munificent legacy, which he has be- 
queathed to this Society, and that we shall always hold in 
veneration the memory of a man, so distinguished for his 
talents, his literary attainments, his humanity and Christian 
charity." 

Voted, That the Corresponding Secretary furnish the exe- 
cutor of Doct. Bentley's will, with a copy of the above reso- 
lution. 

Whereupon it was voted unanimously that the said report 
be and the same is hereby accepted. 

Voted, That a vote passed at a meeting holden in Boston 
on the loth day of January a.d., 1816, providing that every 
person proposed as a member of this Society, shall stand in 
nomination six months prior to the time of his election and 
that no person shall be admitted a member, but at a meeting 
holden in Boston, be and the same is hereby annulled. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 
Att., 

Samuel M. Burnside, Corres^g Sec^y. 

and Recording Sec'y pro tern. 

A true record of the proceedings as furnished by Samuel M. 
Burnside, Esq., Rec'g Sec'y pro tern. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Meeting of August 24, 1820 153 

MEETING OF JUNE 29, 1820 

At a semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, holden at Sikes' Coffee-house in Worcester, and by 
adjournment to the Library room of the Society, on Thurs- 
day the 29th of June a.d., 1820. There being but few mem- 
bers present — 

Voted, to adjourn this meeting to Tuesday the 8th day of 
August next at 3 o'clock p.m., there to be holden at the 
Library room in Worcester. 
Attest, 

Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF AUGUST 8, 1820 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at the Library room on Tuesday the 8th day of August a.d., 
1820, by adjournment from the 29th day of June last. 

Voted, That, in conformity with the previous determina- 
tion of the Sub-Council at Worcester, the house erected for 
the use of the Society be dedicated, by public services in the 
Rev'd Doct. Bancroft's meeting-house, in Worcester, on the 
24th of August next. 

Voted, to adjourn this meeting to the 24th of August inst., 
then to meet at the Hall in Worcester at 9 o'clock a.m. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF AUGUST 24, 1820 

The Society met on the 24th day of August a.d., 1820, ac- 
cording to adjournment from the 8th inst., at their Hall in 
Worcester. 

Voted, To proceed to ballot for the choice of members, and 
that Samuel M, Burnside, Esq., be a committee to receive, 
count and declare the votes. The following gentlemen were 
declared elected — 

Samuel Eddy, LL.D., Providence, R. I. 
Theodore Foster, Esq., Foster, R. I. 
Hon. Robert Moore, Beaver, Penn. 



154 American Antiquarian Society 

Patrick Farrelly, Esq., Meadville, Penn. 

Rev'd Charles A. Goodrich, Worcester, Mass. 

Mr. William Bentley Fowle, Boston. 

Moses Greenleaf, Esq., Portland, Maine. 

Simon Greenleaf, Esq., Portland, Maine. 

Hon. William Gray, Boston. % 

Francis C. Gray, Esq., Boston. 

Ebenezer Granger, Esq., Zanesville, Ohio. 

Constantine Rafinesque, Esq., Prof. Botany in Transylvania 

College. 
James Overton, M.D., Nashville, Tenn. 
Hon. John Hooker, Springfield, Mass. 
Hon. James Lloyd, Boston. 

Gulian C. Verplanck, Esq., New York. , 

Rev'd Joseph Estabrook, Athol, Mass. 
Theophilus Wheeler, Esq., Worcester. 
Benjamin F. Heywood, M.D., Worcester. 
William G. Goddard, Esq., Providence. 
Rev'd Andrew Bigelow, Eastport, Maine. 

Voted, That this Meeting be adjourned until after the exer- 
cises of the day.^ 

At two o'clock, P.M., the Society met according to ad- 
journment. 

Voted, unanimously, that the Hon. Edvv^ard H. Robbins, 
Hon. Nathaniel Paine and Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., be a 
committee to express the thanks of this Society to Isaac 
Goodwin, Esq., for his pertinent and eloquent address this 
day delivered before them, and to request of him a copy for 
publication .2 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 

* These exercises were in connection with the dedication of the building 
presented by Mr. Thomas. For a full account of the exercises see Transactions, 
vol. lo, pp. 61-64, note, with a cut of the building. Some information as to the 
plans of the new building may be obtained from a letter written by Peter Ban- 
ner, of Boston, to Isaiah Thomas, Oct. 21, 1820, in which he says, "I have 
expected you would have ordered the small bill for drawing the plan of a build- 
ing for the Antiquarian Society. I wrote the Treasurer about a month since, 
at the desire of Mr. Andrews, but have not received any answer. The amount 
is six dollars. You will oblige by sending an order by return post." 

^ This address was printed by Manning & Trumbull, Worcester, Sept., 1820, 
and was reprinted in 1894. It is here reprinted. The previous publication of 
the Society was volume i of the Society's Transactions called " Arch.Teologia 
Americana," which was published August 2, 1820 as per advertisement in the 
Massachusetts Spy. The title page of this volume was a very beautiful plate 
engraved by Abncr Reed, which plate was destroyed at the fire in Stationer's 
Hall in Boston with the seal and probably the diploma of the Society. 



Address by Isaac Goodwin 155 

ADDRESS BY ISAAC GOODWIN 

TO recollect the events of past ages, to preserve the me- 
morials of our predecessors, and to transmit a knowledge of 
them to future generations, are principles pecuHar to the 
human character. In the long course of their history, men 
have appHed to these objects the best means in their power. 
In the ages of patriarchal simpHcity, before "infant letters" 
had guided and delighted the Arabian herdsmen, we find 
tradition the only depository of past events. Uncultivated 
tribes of men, in succeeding periods, even to our time and 
country, have received all their annals from the lips of their 
fathers. — And the sacred historian, skilled in all the learning 
of the Egyptians, and deriving his knowledge from a subKmer 
source, sensible of the high character of this species of evi- 
dence, has recorded with a peculiar minuteness the geneal- 
ogies of the primitive famihes of the earth.* But the liability 
to errour, so manifest even in states of society more advanced, 
soon demonstrated the insufficiency of this mode of perpe- 
tuating a knowledge of facts; and we find monuments of 
stone, and pillars of brass the appropriate records of human 
greatness, and memorials of the revolutions of kingdoms. 
These have successively mouldered into dust, or now exhibit 
melancholy heaps of ruins, desolating the plains they were 
intended to adorn. 

The pyramids of Egypt, the mounds of the Muskingum 
and the Ohio, for many centuries have recorded the folly 
of human vanity, and the weakness of human pride; but 
not the names of those once illustrious heroes, to perpetuate 
whose fame, these interesting mausolea were probably erected. 
These, with their achievements, have been swept away by 

* It is hoped that no one, from this, will suspect the faith of the author in 
the divine legation of Moses. The member of his profession who examines the 
evidence — who contemplates the wisdom of the Mosaick system — its won- 
derful adaptation to the peculiar circumstances of the Israelites — who com- 
pares it with the imperfect systems of other law-givers — must be led to the 
conclusion, that the founder of the Jewish polity was divinely inspired. If 
unsatisfied to rest here, the lawyer who has examined the first principles of his 
profession, must believe in another miracle no less wonderful — that the shep- 
herd of Midian had a most perfect knowledge of political science, of constitu- 
tions of government, of criminal and civil law, and of the general administration 
of justice; and this, too, in the infancy of the world, before political systems 
had been reduced to practice — before either Locke had wrote, Burke had 
spoken, Washington had fought, or Sidney had bled. 

The reader is referred to Michaelis's Commentaries on the Laws of Moses; 
a work that should be in the hands of all modem reformers, all Codification 
Jurists, and all Constitution Empiricks. 



156 American Antiquarian Society 

the lapse of ages; and even the period in which they existed, 
is now shrouded in a night of forgetfulness — more appalling 
to the thought, more desolate to the imagination, than the 
once supernatural darkness of the country occupied by the 
most perfect of these mysterious rehcks of remote antiquity — 
these "unambiguous footsteps" of a race of men, far ad- 
vanced in civiHzation and the mechanick arts. 

The chroniclers of later periods have preserved, by the 
use of letters, the annals of the human race; and it is to them 
we recur, to ascertain the progress of our species, from the 
infancy to the manhood of social institutions. 

In that eventful period, commencing with the dawn of 
science upon early Greece, until the gloomy hour, when, with 
the dechne of Rome and greatness, learning set in darkness, 
we find history true to her trust; and, after making suitable 
deductions for the absurd mythologies in which some portions 
of it are involved, we discover man as we ourselves behold 
him — sometimes directed by the purest love of country, 
and the most exalted private virtues — sometimes guided by 
base selfishness, the madman of ambition, the victim of 
passion, the slave of sensuality and appetite — now buoyed 
up by the visions of glory — now depressed by gloom and 
adversity. We behold nations, Kke indi\T[duals, rising into 
greatness, by noble actions; and then, by folly, luxury, and 
guilt, generating the causes of their own dissolution. 

In the next succeeding age of the world, when learning 
confined her bounties to but few — when the tyrannical 
rulers of the earth forbad her pouring forth her treasures to 
all who would receive them — when almost every thing was 
perverted by selfish and base passions, history itself did not 
escape the defilement of a downward age. Hence the an- 
nals of that dark period are crowded with legends, and with 
the ridiculous exploits of a fanciful chivalry. For several 
centuries the world was indebted to the inhabitants of the 
monastick cloisters, the corrupt priesthood of a corrupt 
church, not only for the dim rays of science, that directed 
them to what was useful in this life, but also for the eclipsed 
light that faintly illumined the path to immortality. "In 
those deep soHtudes and awful cells," where every thing pure 
was contaminated, every thing noble debased, every thing 
holy desecrated, the relicks of hterature that descended from 
nations of a more remote antiquity, that were snatched from 
the fire of Omar and the torch of the Vandal invader, be- 



Address by Isaac Goodwin 157 

came disfigured, mutilate, and corrupt. And even the sacred 
volume, that contains the archives of our firmest faith and 
sublimest hopes, did not escape the harpy touch of those 
foes to religion and learning, those enemies to God and 
man.* 

The invention of printing, that art without which other 
arts would be useless to the mass of mankind, ushered in 
the glorious morning of revived letters, and beamed a new 
day upon a world benighted in ignorance. In the forcible 
language of the venerated historian of this art, ''the veil 
which obscured the reason of man was now removed, and 
the chain that bound him in superstition was broken." 
Instead of being confined to a single spot of earth, instead 
of existing only for his own age and country, "he becomes 
at once the cotemporary of every age, and the citizen of every 
clime." From that period to the present, increasing hght 
has been constantly pouring upon the human mind, and the 
advance of our species has been commensurate with the 
glorious advantages enjoyed. From the more general dif- 
fusion of knowledge, a spirit of free inquiry has arisen, that 
produces a variety of opinion, and, upon every question of 
general interest or concern, divides the world into parties, 
sects, and factions. — This evil pervades a community in 
proportion as it is enlightened. And such now are the facili- 
ties of multiplying copies of books, that the histories of mod- 
ern times are too often discoloured by the party feelings of 
the respective historians. The same facts are related so 
variously by different writers, that it is sometimes with dif- 
ficulty we ascertain they refer to the same event. This 
presents so many obstacles to the discovery of truth, that it 
is often impossible to form a correct opinion of a transaction, 
until the generation have passed by, who were actors in the 
scene. Can we then derive no benefits from the success or 
miscarriage of our predecessors or cotemporaries? Are there 
no sources of historical knowledge, but what are perplexed 

* We are told by Hume, that the monks of the middle ages had many an- 
cient books that are now lost. Malmesbury, who flourished in the reign of 
Henry I. quotes Livy's description of Caesar's passage over the Rubicon. Fitz 
Stephen, who lived in the reign of Henry II. alludes to a passage in the larger 
history of Sallust. (^^.^^^^^ ^^ England, Vol. II., Note 10.) 

The ancient copies of the Bible, already in this Society's Library, will throw 
much light upon the controversy concerning the disputed passage of i John, v. 
7; and wiU prove the correctness of the above charge against the Monks of 
the dark age. 



158 American Antiquarian Society 

by doubt, entangled by contradiction, or darkened by un- 
certainty? There are, to the inquirer who learns history 
not merely from the detailed narratives of battles, massacres, 
and revolutions — not from the interested relations of sec- 
tarians or factionists, whose party prejudices discolour, and 
whose national or individual views distort every circumstance 
they narrate. The philosophical historian learns man from 
his progress at certain given periods, in relation to the ad- 
vantages he possesses — from his advances in civilization and 
science — in his attachment to political and ecclesiastical 
liberty — his abhorrent dread of slaver}^ — his detestation of 
those intellectual restrictions, that in any shape fetter the 
mind, and mould the understanding to the will of a dictator. 
Such an observer traces effects to their remote as well as 
immediate causes. He looks with interest and delight upon 
those known and visible monuments, that mark the progress 
of his predecessors — those changes in government and laws, 
in customs, or in language, which, though operating by slow 
gradations, are declarative of a revolution in national charac- 
ter. From the vestiges of antiquity discovered among 
nations, he learns their origin and advancement. The prog- 
ress of the, arts, and the relative skill of the artist are taught 
from specimens of his works — from models of his taste, 
better than from any narration; and an ancient coin, or 
medal, oftentimes speaks volumes in relation to national 
customs, the modes and weapons of warfare, of dress, of the 
implements used in agriculture, or the mechanick arts. 

Nor let it be objected that these inquiries are sometimes 
pursued to extremes that appear trivial, and even ridicu- 
lous — that they have been the favourite theme of satire 
in every age — the target at which wits have hurled their 
keenest arrows. What though the hero of Cervantes con- 
ducted like a maniack with the fancied helmet of Mam- 
brino — or the father of Scriblerus lost his senses with the 
rust of his shield? Until it is proved that ridicule is the 
test of truth, we deny that any argument against antiquarian 
researches results from this source. 

It is important for the statesman or the lawyer to investi- 
gate the nature and operation of governments and laws, to 
ascertain their defects from time and experience, or to guard 
against too great or too frequent innovation — it is of in- 
dispensable consequence that the origin and gradual progress 
of the Legislative and Judicial institutions of his own and 



Address by Isaac Goodwin 159 

other countries be familiar to his mind; so that he will be 
able to trace from the acorn, the gradual development and 
growth of the majestick oak, by which he sits, and whose 
branches afford comfort and protection to the thousands they 
overshadow. 

But in no subject are minute researches into antiquity 
of more consequence than in Theology. — Without discussing 
the nature of the evidence derived from thence, in support of 
the truth of revelation, we would suggest its importance in 
biblical criticism — in gathering, from a variety of readings, 
the true meaning of the sacred writers — in nicely discrim- 
inating the relative correctness of the different versions — 
in ascertaining the history of the various manuscript copies 
of the Scriptures — the characters of those who have tran- 
scribed or preserved them — their inducements to interpo- 
late or omit certain passages, as they might promote or 
obstruct the progress of particular doctrines. A knowledge 
of the dialects and customs of the nations who existed when 
these venerable memorials of our faith were promulgated, 
must also be of great importance in illustrating doubtful 
passages, and in explaining local allusions. 

But a more powerful argument results from the nature 
of man, compared with the irrational creation. Reason is 
his prerogative: it is this that distinguishes him from other 
animals: it is this that enables him to convert whatever is 
valuable in their instinctive wisdom to his convenience and 
use. His knowledge is ever progressive: theirs is fixed and 
stationary. He is ever adding to his stock the accumulated 
experience of ages; they reached maturity at the creation. 
When our ancestors sheltered themselves in their rude mis- 
shapen cabins, the beaver had constructed his dam, and the 
birds their nests, with the same perfection, in relation to the 
rules of architecture and the mechanick arts, as they now 
manifest. 

Before our race had associated under the various forms of 
government that connect the larger societies of mankind 
together, the ants had formed their republick on the basis 
of labour; and the bees had yielded the supremacy to female 
influence in monarchical governments. While the "first- 
born Cain" was defihng the earth with murderous hands, 
because his brother's offering was presented with more sin- 
cerity than his own — while the ground, already marred by 
sin, and cursed for man's transgression, was teeming with 



i6o American Antiquarian Society 

the blood of the first rehgious controversy, the praises of 
the Most High ascended from the feathered songsters of the 
grove, without envy, maUce, or uncharitableness ; but the 
Lords of the World, the Priests of Nature, ordained to offer 
the incense of a whole creation from lips of reason and hearts 
of gratitude, were insensible to the blessings of rehgious free- 
dom, of charity universal, of toleration unhmited. 

Two centuries this year elapse, since the pilgrim fathers 
of New-England first landed upon our shores — since was 
here planted the first germ of those civil, literary, and re- 
ligious institutions, which have afforded security and conso- 
lation to their descendants. The nature of the enterprize — 
the firmness and intrepidity with which its obstacles were 
surmounted — the elevated characters of those who were 
foremost in the undertaking — their learning, their integrity, 
and their final success, declare to us they were high-minded 
men, of whom their native country was not worthy. From 
an ardent desire to advance the interests of posterity, they 
were wilHng to sacrifice the delights of their own country, 
endeared to them as the place of their nativity and the land 
of their fathers' sepulchres. For this, they were wiUing to 
abandon their homes, ever associated with the fondest recol- 
lections, to surmount the horrours of the wilderness, famine, 
pestilence, and the savage foe. And what has been the re- 
turn of posterity? Have their memories been cherished with 
a gratitude proportionate to their deserts? Do monuments 
adorn our towns to tell the passing stranger the origin of 
New-England's glory? Alas! nor "storied urn," nor sculp- 
tured marble, mark even the hallowed spot consecrated by 
their ashes. 

The ingratitude of repubHcks is proverbial. — From the 
day the just man of Athens subscribed the shell, this truth 
has been confirmed by almost every additional page of his- 
tory. But where shall we look for a people who more justly 
merit this reproach than Americans? The intrepid dis- 
coverer of our continent was deprived of the honour of be- 
stowing his name upon the New World his genius had brought 
to hght. 

The virtues of the primitive founders of our repubhck, the 
projectors of our most valued institutions are forgotten, and 
their names are seldom mentioned, but with reproaches for 
the folHes of the age in which they Uved, and which they were 
too wise to transmit to their posterity. 



Address by Isaac Goodwin i6i 

Generation has followed generation, and scarce any efforts 
have been made to rescue from oblivion the comparatively 
recent antiquities of America. — The memorials of our fathers, 
the origin of our institutions, are scarcely remembered. The 
race of men found in possession of our continent are passing 
into forgetfulness — are rapidly minghng their remains with 
their native soil — a soil doomed to pass into other hands. 
The wave of civilization, from the Atlantick, is pursuing them 
to the farthest West, to regions illumined by the setting sun; 
and overwhelming in indistinguishable ruin, alike the recent 
Indian tribes with those of the more civiUzed nations, who, 
many centuries since, preceded them on our continent. We 
tread their common graves without emotion. With un- 
concern we build our streets and erect our edifices upon their 
sacred inclosures. — With sacrilegious hands we scatter to 
the winds alike the bones of the hero, and those of the faith- 
ful dog at his side. The land they once defended is ours. — 
The fields they trod, where they led their sons, where they 
inspired them with courage to repel the invader of these hills, 
are all our own; and ought we not to return them the slight 
tribute of our recollection, the trifling compensation of pre- 
serving their memorials? 

To redeem our country from any further imputation of 
ungrateful neglect, to preserve every thing American, every 
thing illustrative of the ancient history of this continent, 
were among the principal objects for which this Society was 
formed. It is an association founded in individual patrio- 
tism, and fostered by national supplies of generosity — a 
body united from no motives of ordinary ambition, nor 
calculated to gratify any selfish views of personal aggrand- 
izement: it was for no party purposes, as it was estabhshed 
and is protected by men of all parties: nothing sectional, 
as it embraces a continent. Although now in its infancy, 
yet its progress has surpassed the expectations of its most 
enthusiastick friends. Directed by officers distinguished by 
their faithful zeal in promoting the objects of the Institution, 
supported by a laudable legislative patronage, and cheered 
by constant suppKes of individual generosity, in the short 
course of eight years, it has obtained a rank known to but 
few institutions in our country; and, although we have been 
permitted barely to glean where others have long had an 
opportunity to gather a rich and abundant harvest, yet our 
Library and Cabinet inform us that many a generous and 



i62 American Antiquarian Society 

wealthy Boaz has said of our Society, "Let her glean even 
among the sheaves, and reproach her not; and let fall some of 
the handfuls, and leave them, that she may glean, and rebuke 
her not J' 

To these treasures the historians of this and future ages 
will resort for a knowledge of every circumstance connected 
with American annals. Nor are our Library and Cabinet 
confined merely to collections for the historian; the contem- 
plative observer of men, as well as the learned inquirer into 
every branch of science, will here find a rich repast. The 
mass of German literature added to our Library, by a late 
liberal bequest, will greatly facihtate the researches of those 
of our scholars, who are led to examine the rich and extensive 
treasures of learning constantly unfolding to the world from 
the nations of Europe. The advances made in science, upon 
that distinguished continent, for the last half century, have 
been great, beyond any former period. — While we exult 
at the bright visions that are daily unfolding to enlightened 
man — while we rejoice that the glorious work of civil and 
religious Reformation is renewedly advancing in those regions 
that first burst the fetters of Papal Rome, we regret that 
principles fatal to social order, destructive of good govern- 
ment, and tending to weaken the peculiar evidences of Divine 
Revelation, should mingle with the Hberal and lofty specula- 
tions of the German schools. To the admirers of some of 
their religious systems we would recommend a careful ex- 
amination of the leaves at the entrance of the Sybil's cave, 
before they pursue the fathers of a visionary and perverted 
theology, in their descent to the region of shadows. — That 
the truth may be followed with safety, is a maxim generally 
correct; but to follow, after we have lost sight of the object, 
may be courage, but it is seldom prudence. 

On this interesting occasion, when we are about to review 
our treasures in an edifice specially constructed, and appro-* 
priated to our particular use, by the unprecedented munifi- 
cence of our most distinguished patron, who, on this occasion, 
presents us with "fl place for every thing, and shews us every 
thing in its place," it becomes an incumbent as well as a pleas- 
ing task, to express our publick gratitude to the numerous 
donors who are daily adding to the collections of this In- 
stitution. From a splendid catalogue, comprising many of 
the wise and the good and the benevolent, I should not re- 
ciprocate the grateful feelings of my brethren, did I omit a 



Address by Isaac Goodwin 163 

notice of the learned, the departed Bentley — of one, who, 
from the beginning, cherished ardently the interests of this 
Society, and who, next to its chief ofhcer, has done most to 
advance its usefulness and respectability. His philanthropy, 
his learning, his Catholicism, and his piety, will entitle him 
to a high place among our benefactors, so long as unsohcited 
generosity and disinterested benevolence excites the gratitude 
of the human family. 

The recent publications of our Committee disclose to us 
the labours of active officers and patrons, far removed from 
this vicinity; whose lucid and interesting descriptions of 
Western antiquities entitle them to the grateful respect of 
every patriotick American. Who can accompany the in- 
defatigable and the learned Atwater, while tracing the 
monuments of other days, the labours of men of "olden 
time," the strong defences of a people now no more — of 
nations whose very names are blotted from the registers of 
mankind — who can peruse the results of his extensive re- 
searches, his animated descriptions of "the vast cemeteries 
of beings of past ages," and not catch the glow of his enthusi- 
asm, and become deeply interested in the success of his 
future labours? 

The citizens of this County will accept our congratula- 
tions upon the transactions of this day. Let the favourable 
auspices that have attended the estabhshment of this National 
Institution here, be a new bond of union for us. Let us 
constantly remember that the same causes may hereafter 
mark this as the most suitable location for other important 
establishments; and continue to attract to this as a common 
centre, the learning, the opulence, and the hospitality that 
pre-eminently distinguish this among the villages of our 
country. Cultivate then, fellow-citizens of the County of 
Worcester, an enHghtened, a Hberal spirit. Diminish not 
your relative importance by territorial subdivisions. Banish 
unworthy local prejudice, that baneful canker that often 
corrodes our best affections, and madly bhnds us to our 
dearest interests. Let our greatest rivalry be that of striv- 
ing who can best advance the permanent interests of this 
wide-spread section of our beloved Commonwealth. 

Ours is distinguished as the age of benevolent institutions — 
of associations to advance the general good. Whether to 
promote piety, learning, agriculture, or the arts — to en- 
courage virtue, or to repress \ice, there is no one but can lend 



164 American Antiquarian Society 

his aid. Inquire then, fellow-citizens, into the objects of 
these various societies, and, according to your several abilities, 
come over and help. 

It was by combining the wealth and talents of many, and 
directing them to one object, that first gave the peculiar 
character to the institutions of New-England — the foun- 
dations of her glory and her strength — the moral splendour 
that encircles and distinguishes her in the poHtical hemi- 
sphere. — Without these, her cold cHmate and stubborn soil 
would have doomed her to almost perpetual barrenness and 
poverty. Supported by these grand pillars of national glory, 
and political happiness, she has attained a rank not surpassed 
by the regions of the sun. The spirit that animated our 
fathers, Hke the pillar and the cloud, guides and protects 
their sons. It was this that gave the impress of a common 
origin to our literary, judicial, military, and municipal es- 
tablishments. It is this that whitens with our canvass the 
waters of every sea, and echoes the hum of industry through 
our streets — it is this that clothes our vallies with corn, 
and feeds the cattle on our hundred hills — it is this that 
scatters, like the dew, the treasures of knowledge to all, 
and secures to every village an altar, where the afflicted 
may find consolation, where human wretchedness may weep 
and be comforted. 

To the memory of the great and the good, who have con- 
tributed to advance the glory and happiness of the American 
continent — without reference to states, provinces, or na- 
tions — without regard to age or clime — we now dedicate 
the rich donation this day received — - that splendid edifice 
now appropriated to our use. Long may it be preserved 
and protected, as a durable monument of the chaste and 
permanent architecture of the present age. Long may it be 
cherished as a splendid memorial of individual generosity — 
the highest evidence of the patriotism and publick spirit of 
its munificent founder — a national benefactor, better known 
to his native land "by blessings received than by favours 
granted," whose paternal regard for this Institution will en- 
title him to a high place in the grateful recollections of its 
members, long after the men of the present generation are 
numbered with their fathers. And, while we tread those 
spacious apartments — while we behold around their walls 
the relicks of ancient greatness, the memorials of past ages, 
as well as the germs of future glory — let us be deeply im- 



Meeting of October 25, 1820 165 

pressed with a proper sense of our obligations to transmit 
this, and all our Institutions, as a magnificent legacy unim- 
paired to the remotest posterity. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1820 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at the Marlborough Hotel,^ Boston, October 23d, a.d., 1820, 

The following officers were elected for the year ensuing 
(viz): 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ) jr- . ., , 

Hon. Timothy Bigelow \ Vtce-prestdents. 

Counsellors 
Massachusetts 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 

Benjamin Russell, Esq. 

James Winthrop, LL.D. 

Rev. William Jenks. 

Rev. Charles Lowell. 

Hon. Oliver Fiske. 

Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln. 

Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 
Old Colony 

Hon. Joshua Thomas. 
Maine 

Hon. Mark Langdon Hill. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Recording Secretary. 
James C. Merrill, Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

Corresponding Secretaries 
Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D. 
Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D. 
Samuel M. BuRNsroE, Esq. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., Treasurer. 

Committee of Nomination 
Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Rev. Charles Lowell. 
James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Rev. Francis Parkman. 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. 

^ The Marlborough Hotel stood on the westerly side of Washington Street, 
near Franklin Street. 



i66 American Antiquarian Society 

Committee of Publication 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev. William Jenks. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

Voted, That the Sub-Council at Worcester be authorized 
to appoint all officers of the Society out of the Common- 
wealth for the year ensuing. And to fill any vacancies that 
may occur within the State.^ 

^ At a meeting of the Sub-Council, March 21, 1821, the following officers 
were chosen: 

Counsellors 

New Hampshire, Hon. William Plumer. 

Maine, Hon. Mark L. Hill. 

Connecticut, Benjamin Silliuan, Prof'r Yale College. 

Rhode Island, Thomas Lloyd Halsey, Esq'r. 

Vermont, Elijah Paine, LL.D. 

New York, His Excellency DeWitt Clinton, LL.D. 

Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer. 
New Jersey, Rev. Sam'l Miller, D.D. 
Pennsylvania, Peter S. DuPonceau, Esq'r. 

Rev. President Timothy Alden. 
Maryland, John Leeds Bo?man, Esq'r. 
Dist. of Columbia, George W. P. Custis, Esq'r. 
N. Carolina, Hon. William Gaston. 
S. Carolina, Hon. C. C. Pinckney, LL.D. 
Georgia, Hugh McCall, Esq'r. 
Kentucky, Rev. President Horace Holley. 
Ohio, Caleb Atwater, Esq'r, Dan'l Drake, Esq'r. 
Tennessee, Moses Fisk, Esq'r. 
Alabama, Col. Silas Dinsmore. 
Missouri, Honorable William Clark. 

Receiving Officers 

The President, Vice-Presidents, Counsellors, Secretaries, and the foUowiag 
gentlemen in the states hereafter mentioned, viz.: 

Massachusetts, Nath.aniel G. Snelling, Boston. 
James C. Merrill, Esq'r, Boston. 
Nathaniel Spooner, Esq'r, Plymouth. 
Maine, Oliver Bray, Esq'r, Portland. 

Moses Greenleaf, Esq'r, Portland. 
Hon. Mark L. Hill, Phippsburgh. 
Rev'd yVNDREW Bigelow, Eastport. 
New Hampshire, John Farmer, Esq'r, Amherst. 
Rhode Island, William Wilkinson, Esq'r. 

Sam'l W. Bridgham, Esq'r, Providence. 
Connecticut, Rev. Thomas Robbins, East Windsor. 
New York, Theodric R. Beck, M.D., Albany. 

John W. Francis, M.D., New York. 
Jonathan Goodhue, Esq'r, New York. 
Amasa Paine, Esq'r, Troy. 
New Jersey, Abraham Clark, M.D., Newark. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1820 167 

The following gentlemen were elected members — 

Henry Wheaton, LL.D., New York. 
Hon. Henry Clay, Lexington, Kentucky. 
Hon. Thomas Todd, Kentucky. 
Bezaleel Taft, Jun., Uxbridge, Mass. 

Report of the committee appointed by the Sub-Council 
etc., read and accepted [and placed] on file. 

Voted, That the President and Vice-Presidents, together 
with Hon. Edward H. Robbins, Rev. William Jenks, Rev. 
Charles Lowell, Benjamin Russell, Esq., Isaac Goodwin, Esq. 

Pennsylvania, Mathew Carey, Esq'r, Philadelphia. 
Rev. Francis Herron, Pittsburgh. 
JuDAH Colt, Esq'r, Erie. 
Gen. Roger Alden, Meadville. 
Maryland, Rev. James Inglis, D.D., Baltimore. 

James H. M'Culloh, Jun'r, M.D., Baltimore. 
Virginia, Rev John H. Rice, Richmond. 
Dist. of Columbia, Samuel Eliot, Esq'r, Washington. 
Kentucky, Wm. Gibbes Hunt, Lexington. 
Ohio, Sam'l p. Hildreth, M.D., Marietta. 
Daniel Drake, M.D., Cincinnati. 
Nath'l Guilford, Esq'r, Cincinnati. 
Rev'd Robert G. Wilson, D.D., Chillicothe. 
Hon. David Smith, Columbus. 
Tennessee, Rev. Gideon Blackburn, Nashville. 
Rev. David A. Sherman, Knoxville. 
John A. M'Kinney, Esq'r, Rogersville. 

Corresponding Members 

Ebenezer Adams, Esq., Prof. Dartmouth Col., Hanover. 

Hon. William Plumer, Epping. 

John Farmer, Amherst, New Hampshire. 

Benjamin Silliman, Esq'r, Prof. Yale Col. N.* Haven. 

His Excel'cy DeWitt Clinton, New York. 

Hon. Sam'l L. Mitchill, New York. 

William Barton, Esq'r, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

Rev'd Horace Holley, Pres. of Transylvania Coll. Ken'y. 

William Gibbs Hunt, Esq'r, Lexington, Ken'y. 

Constantine Rafinesque, Prof. Lexington, Ken'y. 

Rev'd Charles Coffin, D.D., Pres. Greenville Coll., Tennessee. 

James Overton, M.D., Nashville, Tennessee. 

Moses Fiske, Esq'r, Hilham, Tennessee. 

Samuel P. Hildreth, M.D., Marietta "1 

Hon. John Thompson, Chillicothe | 

Nath'l Guilford, Esq'r, Cincinnati >► Ohio. 

DinJLEY W. Rhodes, Esq'r, Zanesville ( 

Dan'l Drake, M.D., Cincinnati J 

Silas Dinsmore, Esq'r, St. Steph'ns, Alabama. 

John H. Farnham, Esq'r, Jeffersonville, Indiana. 

Hon. William Clark, St. Louis, Missouri. 

Librarian and Cabinet Keeper 
Samuel Jennison, Esq., Worcester. 



1 68 American Antiquarian Society 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, Hon. Oliver Fiske, Hon. Nathaniel Paine, 
Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, Samuel Jennison, Esq. and Edward 
D. Bangs, Esq., be requested to attend the meeting of the 
Pilgrim Society on the 2 2d of December next as delegates. 

Voted, That all the members of the Society who can con- 
veniently attend be requested to be present on that occasion. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to meet at Worcester 
on the second Wednesday of November next, at 2 o'clock pm 
at the Society's Room. 

Att., James C. Merrill, AssH Rec'g Sec'y. 

A true entry of the proceedings of the Society at the above 
meeting as furnished by the Ass't Record'g Sec'y. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF NOVEMBER 8, 1820 

The American Antiquarian Society met on Wednesday the 
8th day of November a.d., 1820, at the Society's Room in 
Worcester, agreeably to adjournment from October 23d. 
There being but few members present, 

Voted, To adjourn the meeting to Wednesday the 29th 
inst., at 2 o'clock p.m., at the President's house. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF NOVEMBER 29, 1820 

The American Antiquarian Society met agreeably to ad- 
journment from the 8th inst. 

Voted, That, whereas the Society is now unable to ascer- 
tain what members will be able to attend the celebration at 
Plymouth on the 2 2d of December next, if any member of 
the Society shall give seasonable notice to the Recording 
Secretary of his intention of attending, the Recording Sec- 
retary shall be authorized to furnish him with the proper 
credentials as a delegate from this Society. 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to apply to the 
Treasurer and ascertain what funds are now in his hands, 
and apply the same to putting up what further number of 
book-cases the Hall of the Society will accommodate, and to 



Meeting of October 2j, 1821 169 

finish all those now unfinished so far as the state of the So- 
ciety's funds will justify and that they be permitted to draw 
on the Treasurer for the above purposes. 

Abijah Bigelow and Theophilus Wheeler, Esqs., were 
chosen a committee for the above purposes. 

Voted to dissolve the meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF JUNE 28, 1821 

At a semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, holden at the Hall of the Society in Worcester on 
Thursday the 28th day of June a.d., 182 i. 

Voted, To proceed to ballot for the choice of members of 
the Society. 

Gov. James Miller, Arkansaw Territory, 
Alexander Dustin, Esq., Westminster, 
John Davis, Esq., Worcester, 

were admitted. 

Voted, That a cormnittee be appointed to take into con- 
sideration the expediency and propriety of placing the names 
of donors upon the alcoves in the Hall of the Society, and to 
act thereon according to their discretion, and to draw upon 
the Treasurer for any expense they may incur. Rev. Aaron 
Bancroft, Hon. Levi Lincoln, and Hon. Abijah Bigelow, were 
chosen such cormnittee. 

Voted, That the subject of an Address before the Society 
at their next annual meeting in October be left with the 
Council of the Society. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1821 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Boston^ on the 23d day of October a.d., 1821. 

Voted to hear the report of the committee chosen to report 
on the state of the Society, which was read by the Secretary 
as follows (viz) 

^ Isaiah Thomas records in his Diary that this meeting was held at the 
Warren Hotel. This building stood at the comer of Merrimac and Friend streets. 



lyo American Antiquarian Society 

The Committee appointed to report at this meeting on the 
state of the American Antiquarian Society, respectfully re- 
port — 

That while no material changes in its favor have taken 
taken place during the last year, nothing adverse has arisen 
to disappoint the anticipations authorized by the report 
which was made at the last annual meeting. Since that time 
considerable additions have been made to the Library. Of 
these, books valued at three himdred and seventeen dollars 
have been presented by the President, and others amount- 
ing to one hundred and seventeen dollars, by other persons. 
In addition to which, there have been received from the 
several States of Maryland, Indiana, Louisiana and Maine, 
copies of their Laws, Journals and other pubKcations under 
the State authority. Several articles have also been added 
to the Cabinet. We have thus the gratifying assurance that 
the Institution is remembered by its friends abroad, and 
that the public confidence in its utility is not impaired. 

We have also the pleasure to state, that the building 
erected for the use of the Society is now completed and en- 
closed in a manner displaying at once the taste and liberaKty 
of the donor. This building, which is highly ornamental as 
a public edifice and well calculated to give respectabihty and 
permanency to the Institution, we are informed, has been 
thus finished at the expense of eight thousand dollars, which, 
in addition to former donations of books, etc., to the estimated 
amount of more than ten thousand dollars, constitute a well 
founded claim on the part of an individual member to the 
gratitude of the Society. We allude to it, not only in justice 
to him, but as an example which we earnestly wish may have 
its influence upon others of our opulent and public spirited 
associates, for notwithstanding what has already been ac- 
complished, much remains to be done. The funds of the 
Society, it is well known, are but small and their sources 
hitherto very Hmited. In the meantime it has become neces- 
sary, for the proper distribution and preservation of the 
books, that an additional room be fitted for their reception. 
The Cabinet, also, is but imperfectly arranged, and to place 
it in a condition suitable for the inspection of visitors, and 
corresponding with the celebrity and respectability of the 
Institution, it is important that other rooms should be pre- 
pared. These suggestions are made by the committee with 
the hope that some mode may be devised for relieving the 



Meeting of October 2j, 1821 171 

President from the burthen which he has hitherto sustained, 
almost singlehanded, in defraying the expenses of the In- 
stitution, and for providing for future expenditures which its 
support must necessarily involve. 

Several communications from members residing in this 
State and in other States, have been received within the last 
year, which, in addition to those previously on file, warrant 
the promise of another volume whenever the pecuniary cir- 
cumstances shall justify its application. 

Thus far the Society has progressed under favorable aus- 
pices. It remains for its members, by their exertions, to 
justify the confidence inspired by its early promise. While 
these are continued we may reasonably flatter ourselves, that 
it will reflect honor on its founders, prove an object of public 
utility and vindicate its claims to public patronage.^ 

Rejoice Newton. 

October 23d, 182 1. Samuel Jennison. 

Voted, That the foregoing Report be accepted and recorded. 

A Report made by the Treasurer of the Society was read, 
by which it appears he has in his hands |i 27.74, money be- 
longing to the Society. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of ofl&cers. 

Voted, That Mr. Merrill and Mr. Andrews be a committee 
to receive, count and declare the votes for officers chosen. 
The following were declared chosen. 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-President. 

His Exc'y DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., 2d Vice-President. 

Counsellors. 
Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 
Benjamin Russell, Esq. 
Rev. William Jenks. 
Rev. Charles Lowell. 
Thomas L. Winthrop, Esq. 
Hon. Oliver Fiske. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 
Hon Levi Lincoln. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 

Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 
James C. Merrill, Esq., Assistant Secretary. 

^ This report was printed and, with a circular relating to the publication of 
a second volume of Transactions and a subscription blank, was distributed to 
members in the winter of 1821-2. The report was reprinted in August, 1868. 



172 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That a choice of a Counsellor for the Old Colony 
be left with the Sub-Council. 

Voted, That all ofl&cers out of the State be appointed by 
the Sub-Council for Worcester.^ 

Rev. Thaddeus M. Harj^s, D.D. | Corresponding 
Rev. Abiel Holmes, D_D^ Secretaries. 

Samuel M. Burnsede, Esq. j 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., Treasurer. 

^ On October 29, and November 19, 1821, the Sub-council made the follow- 
ing appointments: 

Counsellors 

Massachusetts (Old Colony), Rosseter Cotton, Plymouth. 
New Hampshire, Hon. William Plumer, Epping. 
Maine, Hon. Mark L. Hill, Phippsburgh. 
Connecticut, Ben'n Silliman, Prof. Yale Coll., New Haven. 
Rhode Island, Thos. L. Halsey, Esq'r, Providence. 
Vermont, Hon. Elijah Paine, LL.D., Williamston. 
New York, Hon. Sam'l L. Mitchill, New York. 

Stephen Van Rensselaer, Albany. 
New Jersey, Rev'd Sam'l Miller, D.D., Princeton. 
Pennsylvania, Peter S. DuPonceau, Esq'r, Philadelphia. 

Rev'd Timothy Alden, Pres. Coll., Meadville. 
Maryland, John Leeds Bozman, Esq'r, Talbot County. 
Dist. of Columbia, G. W. P. CusTis, Esq'r. 
N. Carolina, Hon. Wm. Gaston, Raleigh. 
S. Carolina, Hon. C. C. Pinckney, LL.D., Charleston. 
Georgia, Hugh McCall, Esq'r, Savannah. 
Kentucky, Rev'd Prest. Horace Holley, Le.xington. 
Ohio, Daniel Drake, Esq'r, M.D., Cincinnati. 

Sam'l P. Hildreth, M.D., Marietta. 
Tennessee, Moses Fisk, Esq'r, Hilham. 
Louisiana, Hon. James Brown, New Orleans. 
Mississippi, James Thompson, Esq., Natchez. 
Alabama, Col. Silas Dinsmore, St. Stephens. 

Receiving Officers 

The President, Vice Presidents, Counsellors, Secretaries, and the following 
gentlemen 

Massachusetts, Nathaniel G. Snelling and James C. Merrill of Boston. 
Nath'l Spooner and Rosseter Cotton, Esq'r., Plymouth. 
New Hampshire, Hon. Nath'l A. Haven, Portsmouth. 

John Farmer, Esq'r, Amherst. 
Maine, Moses Greenleaf, Esq'r, Williamsburgh. 

Simon Greenleaf, Esq'r, Portland. 
Rhode Island, William Wilkinson, Esq. 

Hon. Sam'l W. Bridgham, Providence. 
Connecticut, Rev. Thomas Robbins, E. Windsor. 
New York, John W. Francis, M.D. 

Jonathan Goodhue, Esq., New York. 
Hon. Amasa Paine, Esq'r, Troy. 
New Jersey, Gen'l Joseph Bloomfield. 

Abraham Clark, M.D., Newark. 



Meeting of October 2j, 182 1 173 

Voted, That there be an Assistant Treasurer in Boston. 
Voted, That the appointment of an Assistant Treasurer be 
left with the Sub-Council at and near Boston.^ 

Committee of Nomination 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Rev. Charles Lowell. 
James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Rev. Francis Parolan. 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. 

Committee of Publication 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev. William Jenks. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq, 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to revise the Bye- 
Laws of the Society, and to report at the semi-annual meeting 
in June next. Rev. Charles Lowell, Rev. William Jenks, 
Hon. Levi Lincoln — chosen such com'ee. 

Voted, That a committee be chosen to audit the Treasurer's 
accounts; Hon. Levi Lincoln chosen. 

Pennsylvania, Mathew Carey, Esq'r, Philadel'a. 

Rev. Francis Herron, and Capt. Abraham R. Woolley, 

Pittsburgh. 
Gen'l Roger Alden, Meadville. 
Maryland, James Hugh McCulloh, Baltimore. 
Virginia, Rev. John H. Rice, Richmond. 
Dist. of Colum'a, H. M. Brackenridge, Esq'r. 
N. Carolina, Hon. Joseph Pearson, Salisbury. 

Kentucky, W'm. G. Hunt, Esq'r, and Charles Caldwell, M.D., Lexington, 
Ohio, Nath'l Gxhlford, Esq'r, and Rev. John Lacy Wilson, D.D., Cin- 
cinnati. 
Rev. R. G. Wilson, D.D., Chillicothe. 
Habijah W. Noble, Esq'r, Marietta. 
Guy W. Doane, Esq'r, Circleville. 
Tennessee, Rev. Gideon Blackburn, and James Overton, M.D., Nashville. 
Louisiana, Monsieur Sorrel, St. Mary, Attacapas. 
Mississippi, James Thompson, Esq'r, Natchez. 
Indiana, John Hay Farnham, Esq'r, Jefifersonville. 
Alabama, Silas Dinsmore, Esq'r, St. Stephens. 

Corresponding Members 

Same as last year but on November 28th the following were added: 

Hon. Step'n Van Renssalaer, Albany. 

Guy W. Doane, Esq'r, Circleville, Ohio. 

Hon. Joseph Bloomfield, Newark, New Jersey. 

Charles Caldwell, M.D., Lexington, Kentucky. 
1 There is no record of this appointment having been made. The Sub- 
Council at Boston kept no minutes of its proceedings. 



174 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the Assistant Recording Secretary be re- 
quested to notify the Sub-Council at and near Boston to meet 
at the Rev. Mr. Lowell's room, at Mrs. Hammat's, Howard 
street, Boston, on the 5th of Nov. next, at 12 o'clock, m., for 
the purpose of appointing some person or persons to deliver 
an Address before the Society at the next anniversary, and 
that the Council so assembled be authorized to make such 
appointment. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the last Wednes- 
day of November next, at two o'clock p.m., then to meet at 
the President's house in Worcester. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec'y. 



MEETING OF NOVEMBER 28, 1821 

The American Antiquarian Society met at the house of the 
President in Worcester on the 28th of November a.d., 1821, 
at three o'clock p.m. (being the last Wednesday of said month) 
by adjournment from the 23d of October last. 

Voted to adjourn this meeting to the 24th of December 
next at 3 o'clock p.m., to meet at the same place of this meet- 
ing. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec'y. 



MEETING OF DECEMBER 24, 1821 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
pursuant to adjournment at Worcester on the 24th day of 
December A.D. , 1821. 

Isaiah Thomas, Esq., President in the Chair. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to Saturday next the 
29th inst., at 3 o'clock p.m., then to meet at the President's 
house. 

Att., Samuel M. Burnside, Sec, pro tern. 

A true entry of the records as furnished by the Secretary 
pro tern. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Meeting of December 2q, 182 i 175 

MEETING OF DECEMBER 29, 1821 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, by adjournment from the 24th instant, holden at 
the house of the President in Worcester on Saturday the 29th 
day of December a.d., 1821. 

Voted to proceed to ballot for the admission of members. 
The following gentlemen, who had been regularly nominated, 
were chosen members of the Society — 

Judge John Heywood, Tennessee. 

Gov. Thomas Bowling Robinson, Louisiana. 

Gov. Lewis Cass, Detroit. 

Henry Schoolcraft, Esq., Detroit. 

Baron Humboldt. 

Jacob B. Moore, Jun., Esq., Concord, N. H. 

Hon. John Pickering, Salem. 

Thomas Park, A.S.S., Great Britain. 

Alexander Brunton, D.D., Sec'y of foreign correspondence of the 

Scotch Society of Antiquaries. 
Baron De Sacy, Paris. 
Professor Vater, Germany. 
Mon. Carlo Botta. 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to devise ways and 
means to continue the publications of the Society. That 
that part of the Committee of Publication residing in Wor- 
cester be such committee. 

Voted, That the Corresponding Secretaries be directed to 
open a correspondence with the Corresponding Secretaries of 
the Antiquarian Societies of England and Scotland, and to 
send to each of said Societies a copy of the Archaeologia 
Americana. 

Voted, That a committee be chosen to construct such al- 
coves and other accommodations, in Antiquarian Hall, for the 
use of the Library and Cabinet, as they shall think proper 
and the funds of the Society will warrant, and that they 
draw on the Treasurer for the expenses. 

Abijah Bigelow and Rejoice Newton, Esqs., were chosen 
such committee. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Attest, Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec^y. 



176 American Antiquarian Society 

MEETING OF JUNE 27, 1822 

At the semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society on Thursday June 27th, 1822, the President in the 
Chair. 

In the absence of the Recording Secretary, Samuel Jenni- 
son, Esq., was appointed Secretary pro tern. 

Voted, That a copy of the published volume of the transac- 
tions and collections of the Society be presented to the Anti- 
quarian Society of Tennessee. 

That the Corresponding Secretary reply to the letters of 
Mr. Du Ponceau and Mr. Sherman and express the thanks of 
the Society to the latter for his attention in procuring a de- 
scription of the "Stone Fort," etc.^ 

That the Corresponding Secretary be instructed to ad- 
dress the Antiquarian Society of Tennessee, the Societies at 
Lexington, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and the several 
Historical Societies in the United States, wherever located, 
expressing to them the cordiality of feeling which exists 
toward them on the part of the American Antiquarian Society 
and its readiness to cooperate with them in effecting the 
objects of their several institutions, and of reciprocating 
with them their several publications and to communicate 
with them from time to time on subjects connected with their 
common interests. 

That a committee of two be appointed to determine on 
some mode to be recommended, and if satisfactory, to be 
adopted by the Council respecting the admission of persons 
desirous of visiting the Library &c.^ 

That the Hon. Levi Lincoln and John Davis, Esq., be a 
committee to inquire by what means and at what expense 
the articles in the Museum may be arranged and placed in 
proper order, and report to the Council. 
Attest, 
Samuel Jennison, Rec'g Sec'y pro tem. 

^ A letter from Mr. David A. Sherman on file, dated Apr. 5, 1822, encloses 
a letter from Mr. VVilkins Tannehill, dated Mar. 28, 1822, and "containing a 
plan and description of the celebrated Stone Fort on Duck River in Tennessee." 
It was through Mr. Tannehill that the formation of the Tennessee Antiquarian 
Society which he says "is yet in its infancy" was made known to the Society. 

^ In April the Sub-Council had appointed nine members to attend in rotation 
" for the purpose of waiting on persons who shall be admitted to visit the Society's 
Library, weekly, one of them a week each." Aug. 14, 1822, it was voted that 
the cabinet be closed till further orders; July 17, 1823, it was voted "that the 
library of the Society be opened to none but literary characters." 



Meeting of October 23, 1822 lyj 

A true copy of the proceedings as furnished by the Record- 
ing Secretary pro tern. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec'y, 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1822. 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety holden at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, October 
23d, 1822. 

Voted, To proceed to the 'choice of officers for the ensuing 
year. 

Voted, To choose a committee to receive, count and sort 
the votes, and that James C. Merrill, Esq., be such com- 
mittee. 

Chose, Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice President. 
Hon. DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., 2d Do. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. 

Rev. William Jenks. 

Rev. Charles Lowell. 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop. 

Hon. Oliver Fiske. 

Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln. 

Samuel Jennison, Esq. * 

Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Recording Secretary. 

James C. Merrill, 'Esq,., Assistant Secretary. 

Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D. ) ^ ^ j- 
Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D. Corresponding 

Samuel M. Burnshje, Esq. ) S^^^^i<'^^^'- 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., Treasurer. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq., Librarian. 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Rev. Charles Lowell. 
James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Rev. Francis Parkman. 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. i 



Committee 

of 
Nomination. 



Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ^ 

Rev. William Jenks. I Committee 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. >. of 

Edward D. Bangs, Esq. I Pttblication. 

Samuel Jennison, Esq. j 



178 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That all officers out of the State and all officers not 
chosen here, be chosen by the Sub-Council at Worcester.^ 

Voted, To choose a committee to revise the bye-laws of 
the Society. Chose Rev. Charles Lowell, Rev. William 
Jenks, Hon. Tho's L. Winthrop. 

Voted, To proceed to the election of members of the Society 
who [were] regularly in nomination. Elected — 

Rev. John Andrews, of Chillicothe, Ohio. 

Hon. James Cuthbert, Berthier, Canada. 

Jacob Porter, M.D., Plainfield, Mass. 

George A. Otis, Esq., Quincy, Mass. 

James Bowdoin, Esq., Boston. 

Joseph Adrian Vanderkemp, LL.D., New York. 

Robert Southey, Esq., Great Britain. 

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Gov. of Java. 

Elisha Clap, A.M., Boston. 

John Heckewelder. 

Voted, To choose an assistant treasurer to reside in Boston. 
Chose Ehsha Clap, Esq. 

The treasurer made report, by which there appears to be 
in his hands $177.11. 

Voted, That a letter and memoir sent by the Rev. Abiel 
Holmes, D.D., to the Society be referred to the publishing 
committee. 

Voted, That Doct. Thaddeus M. Harris be requested to 
furnish a copy of his address, this day read before the Society, 
to [be] at the disposal of the Society.^ 

^ December 7, 1822, the Sub-Council reappointed the same Coimsellors in 
other states as for the last year, and the same receiving officers with the excep- 
tion of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia and District of Columbia, and a 
committee was authorized to fill the vacancies in those states and make such 
other appointments as they deemed expedient. This committee appointed for 
Recei\ing Ofhcers for Connecticut, Rev. Jedediah Morse, New Haven; for 
Ohio the same as last year with the addition of David Smith, Esq., Columbus; 
and for Tennessee, Rev. Charles Coffin, D.D., Greenville, and Rev. David A. 
Sherman in addition to last year's list. The corresponding members were the 
same as last year, except that Hon. William Clark, St. Louis, was dropped and 
the following names were added: 

Rev. Jedediah Morse, D.D., New Haven, Conn. 

Peter S. DuPonceau, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Rev. Timothy Alden, Pres. All'y Coll., Meadville, Pa. 

Mathevv Carey, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Rev. David A. Sherman, Kno.xville, Term. 

David Smith, Esq., Columbus, O. 

James Hugh McCulloh, Jun'r, M.D., Baltimore, Md. 

Hon. James Brown, New Orleans, La. 

^ This address, on the "First Peopling of America," was never printed. In 
June, 1823, the Sub-Council voted to loan the original copy to Mr. Harris on 
his request, a copy being previously taken and retained for the Society. The 
transcript is still in the Society's possession, and is here printed at the end of 
the records of this meeting. 



Address by T. M. Harris 179 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to devise ways and 
means for increasing the funds of the Society and for pub- 
lishing their transactions. Chose — Rev. Charles Lowell, 
Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris. 

Voted, That the Sub-Council at Worcester be requested to 
examine the Hst of members admitted to this Society and to 
report the names of those who have not compKed with the 
regulations of the Society, at the next semi-annual meeting, 
and that they be requested to consider of the expediency of 
applying to the Legislature to limit the number of members.^ 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

A true record. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



A DISSERTATION ON THE FIRST PEOPLING OF 
AMERICA, AS INDICATED BY THE TRADI- 
TIONS, AND SOME PECULIAR CUSTOMS 
OF THE NATIVES 

BY THADDEUS MASON HARRIS 

There have been a variety of opinions respecting the first 
peopling of America. Several of them are referred to by 
Charlevoix, in a Preliminary Discourse to the third volume 
of his Histoire de la Nouvelle France, accompanied with in- 
genious remarks.^ Since his time the subject has been dis- 
cussed by Dr. -Robertson,^ the Abbe Clavigero,^ M. de Pauw,^ 
Pernetty,® Don Ulloa,^ and others; but the Baron de Hum- 

^ The Sub Council appointed Dec. 7, 1822, the President and Nathaniel 
Maccarty, a committee to report on the matter, but no report from this Com- 
mittee is recorded. 

* The writers referred to by Charlevoix are Garcia, D'Acosta, DeLaet, 
Lescarbot, Brerewood, Grotius and Homius. 

* History of Sotith America, Book iv, vol. 4, 8vo. 

* History of Mexico, vol. 2. "Dissertation on the population of America, 
and in particular that of Mexico," Clavigero cites Betancourt, Gemelli, Sigu- 
enza, Huet, and Feyjoo. 

^ Recherches Philosophiques stir les Americains, Berlin, 1774, 12 mo., 3 vol. 

* Dissertation sur I Amerique, et les Americains, centre les Recherches Philo- 
sophiques de M. de Pauw, Berlin, 12 mo. 

^ Memoires Philosophiques, Historiques, et Physiques concernant la dec'ou 
verte de l' Amerique, ses anciens habitans, leurs mceurs, leiirs usages, leurs religion 
ancienne et moderne, etc., Paris, 1787, 8vo, 2 vols. This edition is enriched 
with observations and additions by M. Schneider, and remarks by the French 
translator, M. Lefebvre de Villebrime. 



i8o American Antiquarian Society 

boldt, in his Vues des Cordilleres,^ has given such an account 
of the institutions and monuments of the ancient inhabi- 
tants of America, and such elucidations of their hieroglyphics, 
their arts and sciences, as throw more light upon their origin 
and primitive history than all which had previously been 
written. 

As a humble follower of such guides, my object is, by a 
reference to traditions preserved among the primeval in- 
habitants of this part of the world, to draw some inferences 
relative to their origin, and to adduce a few of their peculiar 
customs as subsidiary means of ascertaining from what 
nations they are descendants. Although I feel assured that 
the most satisfactory answer to the question, "Whence and 
by whom was the new world first peopled," must be given 
from an examination of the Indian languages, I do not myself 
presume to deduce it thence. I am not enough acquainted 
with the various dialects, to be able to trace their analogies, 
nor to venture even upon an opinion; besides, this subject 
has engaged the attention of those whose talents and researches 
will do it ample justice. Mr. DuPonceau of Philadelphia, 
and Mr. Pickering of Salem, have already given honorable 
pledges to the public that the investigation will be carried to 
the most interesting results. I pretend not to estabHsh any 
new theory, but merely to state several particulars which do 
not appear to have been so distinctly regarded as they seem 
to deserve. 

On a subject like this, nothing certain can be expected. 
In exploring the origin of nations, we find that so much has 
become obscure, through the want of historic records, or 
been lost in the oblivion of time, that there will be endless 
room for imagination and conjecture. Perhaps, however, 
the difficulties to which we are subjected, in attempting to 
account for the first population of our own continent, are not 
greater than those which we must encounter in our researches 
into that of India, or China, or the numerous Asiatic islands. 
Nevertheless, by pursuing these researches, some light may 
be struck out, and the bounds of our knowledge of primitive 
history may been larged. So that we ought not hastily to con- 
demn such disquisitions as visionary and romantic, but look 
upon those who are at the pains of collecting all the evidence 

1 This work has been translated by H. M. Williams and bears the title of 
Researches concerning the institutions mid monuments of the ancient inhabitants 
of America." Lond., 1814, 2 vols., 8vo. 



Address by T. M. Harris i8i 

that can be obtained upon subjects so little known to the 
generaUty of mankind, as laudably employed, though we 
may not be fully convinced by the opinions which they ex- 
hibit as the result of their investigations. 

Our excellent historian, Dr. Belknap, advocated the opin- 
ion that America was first peopled about the fifth or sixth 
century of the Christian era.^ This epoch corresponds, in- 
deed, with the descent of the Toltecs and Aztecs, upon the 
plains of Mexico; but for the prior population which they 
found in that region, we must look to a period more remote, 
and a greater antiquity seems to be indicated by the mounds 
and forts in our Western Territories, overgrown with forests. 
Moreover so recent a date is incompatible with the immense 
number of inhabitants found in the southern parts of our 
Continent, in South America and in the Islands, at the time 
of their discovery by the Spaniards. On the contrary, 
many circumstances render it probable that America was 
peopled at different periods, some of which must have been 
extremely remote, by emigrants from various nations, and 
who came by different routes.^ 

That the Indians had diflFerent origins is apparent from the 
dissimilarity that exists in their features, language, customs, 
and rehgious opinions and ceremonies. 

The aborigines of the northern regions are distinguished 
by high cheek-bones, an aquiline nose, long chin, and tall, 
athletic figure. The southern Indians have " their face round, 
and further removed, perhaps, than any other people, from an 
oval shape. "^ They have a thin nose, small and bending 
towards the upper lip, and their stature is but of the middle 
size. Professor Blumenbach says that if we examine oste- 
ologically the skulls of the Mexican Indians, there is no race 
on the globe in which the frontal bone is more flattened, or 
which have less forehead.^ The Chilians and Moluches^ 
seem to constitute another variety. They are not so tawny 
as the low-land tribes, and have more symmetry and grace- 
fulness of form, and more alertness of body and vigor of 
minds. In language the difference between the aborigines 

^ See the "Dissertation on the colour of the native Americans, and the 
recent population of this Continent," annexed to his Discourse intended to com- 
memorate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, Boston, 1792. 

2 See Note I. 

^ ChevaHer Pinto, as quoted by Dr. Robertson, note 17 to Book iv. 

* Cranioruni, decas quinta, 1808, p. 14, tab. 46. See also Baron Humboldt's 
Political Essay on New Spain, Vol. i, p. 141. See Note II. 

* Called by the Spaniards "Araucanos," insurgents. 



i82 American Antiquarian Society 

is still greater. In their custons and manners, their insti- 
tutions and forms of government, and their rehgious opinions 
and ceremonies, as described by the Europeans who first 
visited the country, there was a remarkable dissimilarity; 
and their condition varied from that of the most gross ignor- 
ance and barbarism, to a wonderful degree of improvement 
in social and civil polity; and in many of these arts which 
we have been accustomed to consider as the arts of a civilized 
people. 

In treating of the Indians of the New World, it must be 
recollected that those who were found here by the first dis- 
coverers were descendants of such as had become possessors 
of the country, after having conquered and displaced a former 
race. It is concerning that most ancient race that we must 
first inquire. Of their conquerors we can obtain several 
particulars, at least relative to their migrations and subse- 
quent history; but of the primeval inhabitants there remain 
only a few indistinct notices. It is, however, a most ob- 
servable fact, that among them all there existed a tradition 
that they descended from a very few progenitors, who were 
saved from a mighty flood, in which the rest of mankind 
perished. It is not, however, to be imagined that in this 
they retained a memorial of the universal deluge, and that 
their ancestors were the family of Noah. The reference must 
be to some inundation of a later date.^ The tradition itself, 
in connection with other circumstances, has been adduced 
in favor of an hypothesis that the New World was originally 
connected with the old, but has been detached from it by one 
of those dismemberments which earthquakes and deluges 
alone can produce; and that the intermediate region was not 
so deeply submerged but that the mountains and higher 
grounds were left above the waters, forming the islands in 
the Pacific Ocean, which become peopled and cultivated by 
the individuals, who, on their summits, had escaped the gen- 
eral inundation. Among the Islanders the tradition of such 
a catastrophe is preserved, and the geological structure of 
the islands is a strong confirmation of such an event. ^ 

1 Note III. 

2 There is not a doubt that our planet has been subject to great vicissitudes 
since its first formation. Ancient and modern histories confirm the truth 
which Ovid sung in the name of Pythagoras. 

Vide ego, quod fuerat quondam soHdissima tellus, 
Esse f return. Vide factas ex aequo re terras. 

Metam. 1. xv. Fab. iv. v. 24. 
See Note IV. 



Address by T. M. Harris 183 

The opinion that this quarter of the globe was first in- 
habited by colonies who had travelled across the ancient 
Atlantis/ which occupied the ocean from the western parts 
of Africa to Guiana and Brazil, and has since been sunk, 
though ably advocated,^ seems inadmissible, because the 
aboriginal Americans have no affinities with the natives of 
Africa, but numerous ones with the Asiatics. 

(2) That the population was derived from the chance 
aberration of a vessel from the eastern shores of Asia, driven 
hither by contrary winds across the vast extent of the Pacific 
Ocean, or lost here by shipwreck, seems altogether unlikely; 
besides ancient navigators are not known to have taken 
women with them on their voyages.^ 

(3) That the country was peopled by such as sailed hither 
for the sake of making new settlements, is equally improbable, 
for the ancients did not construct vessels large enough to 
carry passengers and provisions for such an expedition, nor 
were their ships at all adapted for so long a voyage. 

(4) The suggestion that the population was formed by the 
excursions of tribes from the interior of Asia, traversing im- 
mense forests and mountains, and penetrating to the Arctic 
regions, and thence over extensive fields of snow and ice, in 
order to pass those straits by which America is separated 
from the most northerly parts of that quarter of the world, 
is attended with insurmountable objections. The most 
prevailing opinion, indeed, of those who have discussed this 
subject is, that by this route the original settlement was 
affected. But, though we admit that some of our northern 
Indians, who are undoubtedly of Tartar origin, passed into 
country across Behring's straits, we cannot account in the 
same way tor the advent of the Tanguantin — Suyu, or 
aboriginal Peruvians, the Abipones of Paraguay, the Bra- 
ziHans,^ and the other nations of the Southern continent; 

1 Note V. 

^ See Siguenza as quoted by Equira in the Bibliotheca Mexicana. Also, 
"Essai sur cette question. Qtiand et comment VA merique a-l-elle ele peupleed'hommes 
et d'aitimanx?" par N. d'E [M. Engel, ancien Bailli d'Echalleiis.] Amst., 1767, 
4to — And " Lettres Americains, dans lesquelles on examine I'origine, les maeiirs, 
les usages, etc., des anciens habitans de VAmerique, les grands epoqiies de la 
nature, I'ancienne communication des deux Hemispheres, et la derniere revolution, 
qui a fait disparoitre VAllantide. Par M. le Compte J. R. Carli. Avec obser- 
vations et additions du Traducteur. [M. Lefebvre Villebrune.] 8vo., 2 vol., 
1788. 

* Note VI. 

* La Vega relates that the first discoverers finding an Indian, endeavored to 
learn the name of the country, or whence he came. He exclaimed Pelu, or 



184 American Antiquarian Society 

most of whom, we are inclined to think, entered the country 
south of the gulf of Panama. 

(5) There are strong reasons for believing that the north- 
western parts of America, even as low down as Cahfornia, 
were formerly connected with Asia, either by a continuous 
continent, or large and thickly interspersed islands; but that 
in consequence of the violent earthquakes which prevail in 
those northern parts, the land has been sunk. That the 
distance between the two continents has been, and is, yearly 
widening, is proved in a very satisfactory manner by Steller 
in his History oj Kamtschatka; and the appearance both of 
the Asiatic and American coast, evinces that the region has 
been greatly affected by volcanic and other convulsions and 
disruptions.^ 

The traditions and hieroglyphic records of the Mexicans 
allow us to trace them no further north than about the 3 2d 
degree. If there be indications of their settlements still 
more northerly, it may be from their having spread in that 
direction after their arrival. When they came to that region, 
or how long they resided in it, cannot be known, but it is cer- 
tain that they emigrated from it southwardly, till they finally 
took possession of the elevated plains of Anahuac, where the 
delightful climate and fertile soil must have determined them 
to fix their abode. 

The primitive people whom they dispossed when they 
founded Astlan, were the Edues or Pericues, and the Co- 
chimies or Laymones, the aborigines of California, as we 
infer from their tradition of having been driven from a 
former settlement, and entered the country on the north.^ 
A peculiar custom existing among these, as also among the 
natives of the Isthmus of Darien, the Brazilians, and the 
Caraibes, seems to indicate that they had a common origin. 
I refer to the very absurd practise of obhging the wife, im- 
mediately after the birth of her first child, to resume her 
domestic labors, while the husband, quitting the toils of 
hunting and fishing, must take to the bed, and be waited 
upon, for several days, as if he needed attendance and com- 
passion.^ 

Peru, which means river; but this name was from that time given to the whole 
region. "Taguantin — Suyu, — c'est ainsi que s'appelloit le Perou avant la 
conquete des Espagnols." Frezier, vol. 2, p. 480. 

1 Note VII. 

^ Venegas, History of California, vol. i, p. 61. 

» .Note VIII. 



Address by T. M. Harris 185 

I here make a digression, to take notice of some other 
customs, which I consider as belonging to the original in- 
habitants. One is the use of an inebriating beverage called 
chica, and the disgusting method of preparation.^ Women 
were employed to chew some roots or farinaceous article,^ 
till well mixed with saliva, they then spit out the paste into an 
open vessel, where, with the addition of water, a beer was 
produced by fermentation, which proved to be intoxicating, 
and was the favorite drink of the men at their social enter- 
tainments. This custom existed also among the natives of 
the Society Islands,^ and is sufficiently peculiar to designate 
the people who practise it, as having derived the knowledge 
of it from common ancestors. To these may be added the 
decoction made from the leaves of a shrub called caa^ re- 
sembling somewhat the Chinese tea in its qualities and use^; 
the smoking of tobacco^; and the method of extracting a 
blue dye from the Indigo plant^; all which may be traced to 
the ancient natives of Asia. 

1 now return (I.) to the history of the Toltecs, the Tlas- 
caltecs, and other nations who successively emigrated into 
Anahuac, since called Mexico. 

The traditions of these various nations, or tribes, respect- 
ing their origin and history, imperfect as they are, have been 
preserved with more care, and deserve more confidence than 
those of any people of the two Americas. From these we 
learn that their ancestors were expelled by invaders from 
Huehuetlapallan, ToUan, Teocolhuacan, and Astlan, settle- 
ments in the northwest, which appear to have been on the 
banks of the Gila, and around the head of the Gulf of Cali- 
fornia. Their traditions and paintings describe the course 
pursued, and pointed out the different places at which they 

» Note IX. 

2 The root of the manioc and maize. 

' See the account of the ava, and method of preparing it, in Cook's Voyage. 

* The Paraguay tea. See Frezier Relation du voyage de la mer du sud (1732), 
p. 229. Lafitau, Mceurs des Sauvages Americains, vol. 3, p. 108. Wilcocke's 
History of Buenos Ayres, p. 4Q4. See also Note X. 

' The Chinese name the article Theh and the Japanese Tsjaa. See Kamp- 
fer's History of Japan, vol. 2, appendix, and Amcenit. Exot., p. 621, and 665. 
It has been said to have been first brought into use by Darma, about 1050 
years before the Christian era. 

' Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, lib. 5, c. 2. Tho. Hariot, De commoi. in col. 
virg., p. 16. Kampfer, Amoenitates Exotica, p. 640, mentions Tobak among the 
people of India, and page 850 Tzubbakki, among the Japanese, and describes 
the practice of smoking it, and the pipe. 

^ See Life of Columbus, by his son, chap. Ixi. Hernandez, 1. iv, c. 12. 
Clavigero, v. 2, p. 408. 



1 86 American Antiquarian Society 

stopped in advancing gradually into the provinces inland. 
This account is confirmed by the remains of many ancient 
works built by them in their migrations. Torquemada and 
Betancourt declare that "in a journey made by the Spaniards, 
in 1606, from New Mexico, to the river which they call 
Tizon, six hundred miles from that province towards the 
northwest, they found some large edifices, and met with 
Indians who spoke the Mexican language, who told them 
that a few days journey from that river toward the north 
was the kingdom of Tollan, and other places, from whence 
came those who founded the Mexican empire, and that by 
the same peoples these and other like buildings were erected." 

The emigration of the Toltecs was about the year 544 of 
the Christian era. After travelling one hundred and four 
years, they settled in Tollantzinco, "about fifty miles to the 
east of that spot, where, some centuries after, was founded 
the famous City of Mexico,^ and then removed to Tula, or 
Tollan, named after their native country. Such of the in- 
habitants as they dispossessed fled into the forests and moun- 
tains; those that remained, became incorporated with the 
new settlers, and adopted at length their manners and cus- 
toms. An empire was thus established which lasted three 
hundred and eighty-four years ,^ when in consequence of ex- 
cessive drought and a desolating pestilence, a great part of 
the nation perished. 

The region remained solitary and almost depopulated, for 
the space of a century, until the arrival of the Chichemecs, a 
less polished people. This nation, commencing their emi- 
gration from the north about the year 11 70, in their travels, 
found on the banks of the rivers, and in other places, ves- 
tiges of works erected by the Toltecs, five hundred years be- 
fore; and among the great edifices still remaining were the 
pyramidal monuments of Teotihuacan, of Cholula, and of 
Papantla. 

In eight years, the Nahualtacs, or inhabitants of rivers, 
after a peregrination of eighty years, took possession of the 
equinoxial region of New Spain. The Acolhuas followed ; and 
lastly, the Aztecs. 

These emigrants formed an alliance, and became at length 
united in one great empire. 

Baron Humboldt remarks that "these successive colonies 

1 Clavipero, vol. i, p. 85. 
^ Until A.D. 105 1. 



Address by T. M. Harris 187 

did not arrive as barborous hordes, but everything that be- 
longed to them betokened the remains of ancient civihza- 
tion." They brought with them the knowledge of many 
useful manufactures. They introduced the culture of maize 
and cotton, the art of building with stone and cement; the 
method of working metals, and of making bricks and pot- 
tery, and some of the most desirable improvements of do- 
mestic and social life. The Toltecs, in particular, are cele- 
brated for their superior civilization, for their skill in the 
arts, their curious hieroglyphic paintings and records,^ and 
especially further construction of the calendar, which dis- 
covers a wonderful degree of philosophical knowledge.^ 

In illustrating the monuments and institutions of these 
various colonies who followed each other, "proceeding from 
the same quarter and speaking the same language," Baron 
Humboldt has most clearly shown that there are many par- 
ticulars which have a strong affinity to the arts and customs 
of the ancient Mongols. The most striking coincidences are 
in the computation of time, and the arrangement of the 
Zodiac; and it is proved that several of the days in the Mex- 
ican calandar were called by the names that they bear through- 
out the whole of Eastern Asia in the Thibetan, Mongol, Cal- 
muc, Chinese, Japanese, Corean, and all the languages of 
Tonquin, and Cochin China.^ A very prominent feature, 
also, observed in the tradition of the people of Asia and 
America, is that which the Mexican mythology exhibits in 
the cosmological fictions of the destructions and regenerations 
of the world,^ while the account of the Ages, which is given 
by Gomara and Clavigero, corresponds almost entirely with 
the oriental yugs, and indicates a common origin. 

(II.) The Peruvians were the most improved of the Ab- 
origines, "having advanced far beyond all the rest both in the 
necessary arts of life, and in such as have some title to the 
name of elegant."-'' Of their history, however, the particulars 
are defective and uncertain. It consisted of traditions, 
assisted by the use of quipos, which were registers made of 
cords, in which different kinds of knots and various colours, 

1 Note XI. 

2 Note XII. 

' Humboldt, Researches, vol. i, p. 345. See also Note XIII. 

* Note XIV. 

^ Robertson, vol. 3, p. 336. Ulloa, also observes, "ces anciens monumens 
des Indiens, soumis aux Incas, nous donnent une assez grande idee de ce qu' 
6toient alors ces peuples, et du degre de civilisation ou ils etoient arriv6s," 
M6moires, vol. 2, p. 67. 



1 88 American Antiquarian Society 

combined in an artful manner, indicated facts, the remem- 
brance of which it was desirable and important to preserve.^ 
As this device for perpetuating the memory of numbers, 
dates, and events, was formerly practised by the Chinese, a 
conjecture arises that the Peruvians were descendants from 
that nation. 

The substitution of written characters for the Koua is said 
to have been several centuries before the Christian era. 
Now, though I do not place much dependence upon dates 
in the ancient chronology of the Chinese, yet the discontin- 
uance of the knotted cords for so long a time as it is certain 
they had been disused, proves that if the Peruvians were 
originally a colony of that nation, they must have emigrated 
at a period very remote. 

According to the declaration of M. Frezier, the Peruvians 
had another custom, well known to be used by the Chinese, 
sufficiently pecuhar to indicate a common origin. He says 
that the women consider small feet to be a desirable dis- 
tinction, and, to insure this ornament to their daughters, the 
mothers early put their feet in cramps to prevent their growth.^ 
These may be similar practices among nations, arising from 
their being in similar stages of society, or common to all 
nations; and persons, without any intercourse with each 
other, may happen in some instances to fall upon the same 
modes of acting; but usages of merely arbitrary institution, 
especially one so singular as this, and requiring torture to 
effect it, can only be accounted for by belie\'ing it to be de- 
rived from an hereditary source, and perpetuated by the 
sanction of primeval authority. It is not probable that this 
custom was introduced by Mango Capac, the mysterious 
stranger who promulgated the religious systems over which 
the Incas, as priests of the sun, presided; but that it was 
practiced by the aboriginal mhabitants. 

(III.) The natives of Chili have a tradition that their an- 
cestors came from the west, perhaps the south of Asia^; and. 
learned men have perceived evident traces of Malayan and 
other Asiatic dialects among them, as well as among the in- 
habitants of the islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 

1 See Note XV. "Si I'on se rappelle que le mot Koua Chinois, et Kowa, 
ou Kowe, ou Kow des Orientaux, Arabes, ou Hebreux, signifie ligne ou cordeau, 
I'origine du mot Peruvien Kuip ou Quip, n'est plus indeterminee; le t) a dte rem- 
place, au Perou par le p." Villebrune, note to Carli's letters, v. i, p. 380. 

2 Note XVI. 

» Note XVII. 



Address by T. M. Harris i8q 

They called their progenitors Pegni Epatun, which signifies 
the brothers Epatun; but of these patriarchs, says the 
Abbe Molina, nothing but the name is known. They also 
denominated them Glyce, primitive men, or men from the 
beginning, and in their assemblies invoke them together with 
their deities, crying out Pom, pum, pum, mari, mart, Epu- 
namun, Amimalguen, Pent Epatum! " The signification of 
the three first words is uncertain, and they might be con- 
sidered as interjections, did not the word Pum, by which the 
Chinese call the first man, or the one saved from the waters, 
induce a suspicion from its similarity, that these have a 
similar signification.'^ The lamas, or priests of Thibet, from 
the accounts of the natives of Indostan, are accustomed to 
repeat on their rosaries the syllables, Horn, ha, hum, or om, 
am, um, which in some measure corresponds with what we 
have mentioned of the Chilians." 

(IV.) The Natchez had a tradition that before their com- 
ing to Louisiana, their ancestors lived under the sun, (point- 
ing to the southwest) that, having been expelled thence, 
they dwelt for a time among the mountains, and at last re- 
moved to the borders of the Mississippi. From their wor- 
ship of the sun and several peculiar customs, I am inclined to 
suppose them to have been an ancient colony of the Peruvians. 
This nation has now become extinct. On their arrival they 
found several nations, some on the east and others on the 
west side of the river. These are the people who are dis- 
tinguished among the natives by the name of the Red Men; 
and "their origin," says the Abbe du Pratz,^ " is so much the 
more obscure as they have not so distinct a tradition as the 
Natchez, nor arts and sciences like the Mexicans, from whence 
we might draw some satisfactory inferences; all that we 
could learn from them was that they came from between the 
north and the sun setting; and this relation they uniformly 
adhered to whenever they gave any account of their origin." 

(V.) The Indians of our Southern States have traditions that 
their progenitors came from the West; that they crossed the 
Mississippi, and that they gradually travelled towards the 
East. When you ask them (says Lawson, speaking of the 

^ Geographical, Natural and Civil History of Chili; translated by an American 
Gentleman. Middletown (Connecticut) 1808, 2 v., 8vo., v. 2, p. 3. 

^ Epunamum is the name of the god of war; and Amei-malguen of the guar- 
dian spirits, in the Chilian mythology. 

* Histoire de Louisiane, v. 2, p. 120. 



IQO American Antiquarian Society 

natives of Carolina ^) , whence their forefathers came that 
first inhabited the country, they will point to the west, and 
say, where the sun sleeps, our forefathers came thence. 

(VI.) I have already intimated that our northern Indians 
are descendants from tribes in the northeastern parts of Asia, 
and that they entered this country across the straits of Beh- 
ring. They were the last comers of what we call the Indian 
tribes.^ The numerous resemblances that have been found to 
exist, not only in the manners and religious rites, but also in 
the physical conformity, physiognomy, and mental faculties 
and languages of the inhabitants of both continents at their 
extremities, put this hypothesis beyond doubt.^ 

The Lenni Lenape ^ migrated from the westward, according 
to traditions mentioned by Mr. Heckewelder, from whose in- 
teresting history I proceed to give some particulars. After a 
long journey, which they were several years in accomplishing, 
they arrived at the Namcesi-sipu, or Mississippi, where they 
fell in with the Mengwe, or Iroquois, who had also migrated 
from a distant country, and like themselves, were in search of 
new territories. They encountered the Alligeni, a numerous 
and powerful nation collected in large towns on the borders of 
the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and obliged them to abandon 
their country and retire along the rivers to the south, whence 
they never returned. The Mengwe settled near the great 
lakes, and gave origin to the Six Nations, the Osages, and 
others; and the Lenni-Lenape spread themselves more ex- 
tensively so that they gradually occupied the whole eastern 
or seacoast country, as well as the interior on the great rivers. 
From them descended the Indians found by our ancestors. 
Still we are at a loss to account for the Allegeni, or their con- 
querors. Probably the former passed over from Asia at a 
period long before the latter; and from their knowledge of 
the arts it is to be presumed that they came, by some means 
or other, from a more southern part of Asia than the Lenape. 
The latter, no doubt, crossed the narrow strait between Asia 
and America, extended along the western coast, until their 
population became numerous, and were then compelled to 
move towards the east in search of an easier subsistence. 

The traditions of this people lead us to attribute to them 

1 New Account of Carolina, Lond. 1711, 4to p. 170. 

^ Les nations les plus voisines de I'Asie, paroissent 6tre entries les dernieres 
dans rAmerique. Lafitau, vol. i, p. 153, ed. 12 rao. 
3 Note XVIII. 
* That is, the original people. 



Address by T. M. Harris 191 

the ancient works on the borders of the Ohio and Mississippi 
rivers; but that they were the ancestors of those who founded 
the Mexican Empire is not so probable. They might have 
been the invaders by whom the Toltecs and others were ex- 
pelled from their settlements in Astlan and Tollan. More- 
over, the elevated squares and mounds in our western terri- 
tory are not very similar to the teocalli of the Mexicans or the 
huacas of the Peruvians; while they entirely resemble such 
as are described by Strahlenberg and Pallas in the northern 
parts of Asia. A more careful examination of the Asiatic, 
North American and Mexican tumuli, and a comparison of 
the skulls and implements found in them, will eventually lead 
to discoveries more satisfactory. 

I have thrown together these desultory remarks, rather as 
suggestions to the members of this Society of what deserves 
and will undoubtedly receive more exact and convincing elu- 
cidations, than with the presumption of having myself caused 
any scattered rays so to converge as to shed light upon a 
subject over which the increasing darkness of ages has gathered. 



Notes, Illustrations and Authorities. 

Note I. — Clavigero assigns several reasons to prove that 
the population of America has been very ancient, particu- 
larly, — "because the Americans wanted those arts and in- 
ventions, such for example as those of wax and oil for light 
(and he might have added the use of iron for implements), 
which, on the one hand being very ancient in Europe and 
Asia, are, on the other, most useful, not to say necessary, and 
when once discovered are never forgotten." 

" Je sais qu'un des hommes le plus celebres de nos jours a 
avance que I'Amerique n'etoit habitee que depuis six ou sept 
cens ans; mais M. Gusmann, Professeur de Physique Ex- 
perimental a Lemberg a suffisament refute cette idee dans 
ces Memoires (Beytrag, &c.) pour servir a histoire de Vorigine 
du globe terrestre et a ces habitans. 2 vols. 8vo. Allemand. 
Lefebvre de Villebrune. 

"It cannot be doubted that the greater part of the nations 
of America belong to a race of men, who, isolated ever since 
the infancy of the world from the rest of mankind, exhibit in 
the nature and diversity of language, in their features and 



192 American Antiquarian Society 

the conformation of their skull, incontestible proofs of an early 
and complete separation." Humboldt, Researches, v. i, p, 249. 

Note II. — "Quant aux Indiens, leur couleur ne varie presque 
point, malgre la difference qu'on remarque dans la forme et 
les traits de leur visage ; difference fort sensible et qui semble 
en distinguer la race; comme un front tres-petit, couvert 
en partie de cheveux jusq'aux extremites, ou a i'interstice des 
sourcils, les yeux petits, le nez pointu, mince, courbe jusq'a la 
levre superieure, la face large, les oreilles grandes, les cheveux 
noirs, plats, epais; la jambe bien faite, le pied petit, le corps 
epais, bien muscle et robuste; la face sans barbe, a moins qu'ils 
ne soient vieux, alors ils en ont un peu, mais jamais aux 
joues." Ulloa, Memoires, v. 2, p. 4. 

Note III. — "This relation (of a Deluge), is found in the 
traditions universally disseminated among all the tribes of 
America from the Straits of Magellan as far as Canada. 
They affirm that in former times the low lands of their con- 
tinent were submerged, which obliged their ancestors to retire 
to the heights." Rees, Encyclopedia, article "Deluge." 

The Peruvians believed that there was formerly a deluge 
by which all the inhabitants of their continent perished, a 
few excepted, who retired into caverns on the top of the highest 
mountains, and whose descendants filled the earth with in- 
habitants again. Some ideas, little different from these, have 
been received by the natives of Hispaniola, according to what 
Gemelli Carreri writes. The old historians of Mexico like- 
wise mention a deluge in which all but one man and one 
woman perished. Bossu, History of Louisiana, v. i, p. 397. 

See also Ulloa's Memoires, vol. i, p. 361, and vol 2, p. 
348-350, and 370; De la Vega, 1. iii, c. 25; Acosta, 1. iv, 
c. 19; Herrera, decad, i,l. ix, c. 4; Gumilla, vol. iii, p. 155; 
Clavigero, v. 2, p. 204; Grant's History of Brazil, Dumont, 
Memoires sur la Louisiane, v. 2, p. 163. 

"The Chepewyans have the tradition of a deluge, when 
the waters spread over the whole earth, except the highest 
mountains, on the tops of which their progenitors were pre- 
served." Mackensie's Voyages, Introd., p. cviii. 

Note IV. — J. R. Forster, in his Observations made during 
a voyage around the world, 4to. Lond. 1778, p. 159, after re- 
marking that several of the Islands in the South Sea exhibit 
evidences of volcanic effects, and that many of them have 
perhaps constituted greater lands, and were only dismem- 
bered by the sinking of intermediate parts, adds, "The na- 



Address by T. M. Harris 193 

tives of the Society Isles, pretend their isles were produced 
when 0-Maoowe dragged a great land from west to east 
through the ocean, which they still imagine to be situated 
to the east of their Islands. All that time, they say, their 
isles were broken off as little fragments, and left in the midst 
of the ocean. This tradition seems to indicate that the inhab- 
itants themselves have some idea of a great revolution which 
happened to their isles. The god of earthquakes, mentioned 
before, proves that they somehow refer the present condition 
of their isles to a great earthquake as a general cause; and 
the great land they remember, and of which their isles are 
fragments, seems to imply that they have not forgotten that 
their habitations formerly were parts of a great continent 
destroyed by earthquakes and a violent flood, which the drag- 
ging of the land through the sea seems to indicate." See also 
Geo. Forster's Voyage, for additional evidence in the Mendoza 
Marquesas Islands, vol. 2, p. 6; and Marchand's Voyage, 
vol. I, p. Id, 114. 

Note V — For particulars of the Island Atlantis I refer to 
Platonis opera, tom. x, p. 48, ed. Bipont; to Taylor's Transla- 
tion of Plato, 5 vol. 4to. Lond., 1804, in vol. 2, the Timasus, and 
Critias, with notes; and to Rees Encyclopedia, article Atlantis. 
Note VI. — According to Dr. J. R. Forster, Obs., p. 316, 
" the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians seem to be descended 
from those nations whom Kublai Khan sent to conquer Japan, 
and who were dispersed by a dreadful storm; and it is 
probable that some of them were thrown on the coast of 
America, and there formed these two great empires," Mexico 
and Peru. 

M. Fleurieu, the learned compiler of the accounts of Mar- 
chand's Voyage, after quoting the above, remarks (vol. i, p. 
506). "However just the deference we must have for an 
opinion broached by Dr. Forster, I could not propose to adopt 
this. In fact when we know the sort of vessels which Kublai 
Khan may have been able to dispatch from the coast of Asia 
in order to send them to conquer Japan, when we know the 
construction of the Chinese junks, and the manner of navi- 
gating them, we cannot conclude with Forster that it is 
probable that these vessels, after having been dispersed by a 
storm, were driven three thousand marine leagues from the 
place whence they took their departure, touched on the 
northwest coast of America, and, after a passage of jour 
thousand leagues arrived on the coast of Peru. We may even 



194 American Antiquarian Society 

observe that, to reach this latter point, they would have to 
cross diagonally, against the wind, all the part of the torrid 
zone comprehended between Asia and America; and it is 
well known that, even for modern ships and navigators, this 
passage would present great difficulties, and require too con- 
siderable a portion of time for us to be able to suppose that 
the junks were provided with the quantity of provisions and 
water necessary for so long a run. I add that the passage of 
the Asiatics into America by the ships of Kublai Khan would 
scarcely be more probable, if it were meant that the whole of 
the junks had landed on the northwest coast, or even on 
that of Mexico; for the men who, in this hypothesis, would 
be supposed to have founded the empire of the south, would 
have had to travel about a thousand leagues by land (and by 
what roads!) in order to repair from Mexico to Peru." 

Note VII. — "Selon toutes les apparences et les indices 
qui en restant, I'Amerique a ete unie autrefois a I'Asie. 
Ceci se demontre plus encore par I'archipe que les Russes 
ont decouvert depuis peu, qui fait voir clairement en differents 
endroits qui ce n'est qu'un Continent brise; parce que plu- 
sieurs des Isles qui forment cet Archipel se fend, se brisent, 
et diminuent encore journellement, et sous les yeux des voy- 
ageurs. Quant a la question si I'Amerique a ete autrefois 
jointe a I'Asie, M. Steller prouve I'affirmative par la chaine 
de montagnes escapees et f endues de tous cotes, qui borde ce 
continent, et dont il se detache sans cesse des rochers qui se 
precipitent dans la mer. En effet, on appergoit de loin les 
cotes de I'Amerique que paroissent s'elever du sein des eaux 
comme des ramparts inebranlables ; mais a mesure qu'on 
approche, on les trouve tellement rompues et pleins des 
fondrieres, qu'il n'est plus possible de douter de leur diminu- 
tion continuelle, et qu'on sauroit apprecier les ravages qu'y 
ont cause les eaux de la mer depuis un certain nombre d'an- 
nees. M. Steller, non content d'avoir examine I'effet de ces 
ecroulements, nous en decouvre en meme temps la cause; il 
observe que les tremblements de terre sont plus frequents dans 
ces contrees que dans toutes les autres parties du monde, et 
si destructeurs, que presque toutes les fois qu'ils arrivent, il a 
vu, en jettant les yeux sur les cotes de la terre-ferme de 
I'Amerique, de grandes masses de rochers se detacher et se 
precipiter tout-a-coup dans la mer avec une quantite exces- 
sive d'arbres et de decombres entraines par la chute; de 
sorte qui la partie qui formoit autrefois une longue chaine de 



Address by T. M. Harris 195 

rochers et de montagnes, a fait place a la pleine mer, et que 
le detroit qui s'epare I'Asie de I'Ameriques' enlargit chaque 
jour. Ces decouvertes et ces observations de M. S teller con- 
siderees en elles memes, prouvent avec autant de clarte qui 
d'evidence que FAmerique a ete jointe anciennement a I'Asie." 
Scherer, Recherches sur le nouveau Monde, Paris, 1778, 8vo., 
p. 168 and 175. 

Note VIII. ''Un singulier ecart de la raison avoit in- 
troduit au Bresil un usage, en consequence duquel les femmes 
etoient obligees d'aller aussitot se laver. Les maris se couch- 
ient en leur place, et recevoient les visites des parents et des 
amis. On les alimentoit, et on les traitoit comme si c'eut ete 
eux qui fussent accouches. Cet usage etrange, dont on ne 
peut assigner ni I'origine ni la raison, n'etoit pas inconnu 
dans notre hemisphere, puisque Strabon I'a remarque chez les 
Celtiberiens, Mela et Pline chez les Tibareniens en Capadoce, 
et Diodore chez les Corses. Plusieurs Voyageurs modernes 
Font aussi observe chez les Tartares, et dans quelques isles, 
de rOrient." 

Csivli, Lettres Americains, vol. i, p. 144. Marc Paul {Rela- 
tion des peuples orientaux, lib. iii, c. 42), reports the same of the 
inhabitants of the province of Arcladam. The same custom 
is followed in Japan. 

See also Lafiteau, Moeurs des sauvages Americains, vol. i, 
p. 45, and 235, ed. 12 mo.; Woodes Rogers, Account oj Brazil; 
Rochefort, Histoire morale des Antilles, c. 23; La Borde, Descr. 
des Caribbees; Venegas, History oj California, v. i, p. 81; 
Lery, Hist, de Bresil, c. 9. 

Note IX. — "They steep in a trough of water a quantity 
of maize bruised, letting it lie till the water is impregnated 
with the corn, and begins to turn sour. Then the women, 
usually some old women who have little else to do, come to- 
gether and chew grains of maize in their mouths, which they 
spit out into a gourd or calabash. This they put into the 
trough with the water and it serves as a barm or yeast, and 
completes the fermentation. The liquor hence obtained is 
very intoxicating." Wafer's voyage, p. 154. 

"La salive de ces femmes est un ferment qui donne a ces 
liqueurs un grand force." Lafitau, vol. 3, p. 105. 

See also, Bellin, Descr. de la Gtiiane, 4to., Paris, 1763, p. 92; 
Histoire Generale des Voyages, vol. xiv, p. 269; Wilcocke's, 
History oj Buenos Ayres, Lond., 1807, 8vo., p. 49, who says, 
"It is sometimes made of other materials, besides maize, and 



196 American Antiquarian Society 

the berry of a tree called ovinian, nearly resembling a juniper- 
berry both in size and flavour, is infused in it, which adds 
considerably to its strength and to its estimation." 

Note X. — "This (says Dr. Barton, in his Elements of 
Botany, part I, p. 16), is the Yaupon, Yopon, Cusseena, or 
Casseena, of our Southern Indians. It is one of the most inter- 
esting vegetable articles in the history of the American Indi- 
ans. If there were no other reasons to believe that the 
American Indians and certain Asiatics, particularly the Jap- 
anese and Chinese, were the children of a common stock or 
family, we should almost be led to adopt this opinion from 
an attention to the tradition of the Carolina Indians concern- 
ing the first discovery and use of the Cusseena." (See also 
Barton's Collections for an Essay towards a Materia Medica 
of the United States, 2d ed., p. 56-58, Philad., 1801, 8vo. 

The plant here referred to is the Ilex Vomitoria, Pursh, v. i, 
p. 118. For the method of curing the leaves and preparing 
the decoction, and other particulars, I refer to Lawson's 
New Voyage to Carolina, Lond., 1709, 4to, p. 90. 

Note XL — The Mexican annals were hierogl5^hical or 
symbolical paintings, the most ancient of which were on skins, 
others on a kind of cotton cloth, but the most common on a 
sort of paper called maguey, formed of the fibres of the pita, 
(Agave Americana). These registers were in narrow, long 
strips, and folded in a particular manner like the mounts of 
our fans. Two tablets of light wood were pasted at the ends, 
one at the top, the other at the bottom, so that before the 
paper was unfolded the manuscript resembled a large quarto 
volume. "In this respect," says Baron Humboldt, "the 
Mexican paintings are perfectly similar to the Siamese manu- 
scripts preserved in the publick library at Paris, which are 
also folded in zigzag." Researches, v. i, p. 163. See also, 
Asiatic Researches, vol. vi, p. 307. 

These picture writings, as they have been called, contain 
their chronology, the genealogy of their kings, their conquests, 
the foundation of cities, the celestial phenomena, and other 
particulars historical and astrological. 

The originals of those described in Purchas's Pilgrimage are 
in the Bodleian Library, No. 3134, among Mr. Selden's MSS. 
To all there is annexed a full explanation of what the figures 
were intended to represent, which was obtained by the Span- 
iards from Indians well acquainted with their meaning. In 
the same collection, among some other curious Mexican pic- 



Address by T. M. Harris 197 

ture writings, there is one painted on thick skins, which are 
covered over with a chalky composition, and folded in eleven 
folds. No. 3135 is a book of Mexican hieroglyphics printed 
on similar skins, in ten folds, and No. 3207 is a roll containing 
Mexican hieroglyphics painted on bark. 

Note XII. The Mexican year was a solar one, and con- 
sisted of eighteen months of twenty days each, making 360 
days. At the end of the year they added five days called 
nemontemi or voids, which were devoted to pastime, and at 
their expiration they began a new year. But their astrono- 
mers had perceived that 365 days did not make a perfect 
computation of time, and that the solar revolution exceeded 
about six hours, amounting to a day in four years. To adjust 
this surplus, they constructed their cycle of 52 years, to 
which they added 13 days, and consecrated them to solemn 
rites. The proof of this combination is very apparent. Mul- 
tiply 52 by 6, the number of hours exceeding each of the 52 
years, and we have 312 hours, which divided by 24, the hours 
in a natural day, give 13 days, which were made the epa- 
gomcBna, or additions at the end of the cycle. This ingenious 
correction of 13 days brought back exactly the computation 
to the same point. 

Reckoning the cycle of 52 years, we have 360 days multi- 
plied by 52, making 18,720 days; which, divided by 30 (or 
one month), give 624 months; these divided by 12 (or a 
year), give 52 years. 

Carreri observes that they added 13 days to the end of the 
cycle to correct the bissextile. In fact, 13 days, multiplied 
by 24 hours, give 312 hours, which, divided by 52, give a 
6 hours for each year, of which we make a day every four 
years. 

Their years had four signs, which were Tochtli (rabbit), 
Acatl (cane), Tecpatl (flint), and Calli (house), and of these, 
with different numbers, their cycle was composed. The first 
year of the cycle was Tochtli, the second Acatl, the third, 
Tecpatl, the fourth Calli, the fifth Tochtli, and so on to the 
13th year, which terminated the first period, or indiction. 
They began the second indiction with Acatl, and so on until 
it was completed by 13. In like manner the third began 
with Tecpatl, and finished with 13; and the fourth com- 
menced with Calli, and terminated with the cycle in 13, so 
that there being four names and 13 numbers, no one year 
could be confounded with another. 



198 American Antiquarian Society 

This cycle is delineated in a round, or wheel, in the center 
of which the sun is represented; and the whole is surrounded 
by a serpent with its tail in the mouth, and denoting, by four 
coils, or knots, the four indictions. This emblem reminds us 
of the serpent which among the Eg^-ptians and Persians rep- 
resents a century or cevum. 

Note XIII. — "The Tartar and Mexican Zodiacs, contain 
not only the animals peculiar to the climates which these 
people inhabit at present, but we find also apes and tigers, two 
animals that are unknown on the elevated plains of central 
and eastern Asia. The people of Thibet, the Monguls, the 
Mantchous, and the Calmucks, have therefore received from 
a more southern country the Zodiac which is too exclusively 
called the Tartar cycle. The Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Tlas- 
caltecs flowed from the north toward the south; these colo- 
nists, issuing from Astlan, did not arrive as barbarous hordes; 
everything that appertained to them betokened the remains 
of ancient civilization. The names given to the cities which 
they built were the names of places which their ancestors in- 
habited. Their laws, their annals, their chronology, the order 
of their sacrifices, were modelled on the knowledge they had 
acquired in their primitive country. But the apes and the 
tigers, which figure among the hieroglyphics of the days, 
do not inhabit the northern part of New Spain and the 
northwest coast of America. Consequently, the sign, ozomatli 
and ocelotl render it singularly probable that the zodiacs of 
the Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Monguls, the Tliibetans, and so 
many other nations now separated by a vast extent of country, 
originated on one and the same point of the ancient Conti- 
nent." Humboldt, Researches, etc., v. i, p. 347. 

Note XIV. — ''The sacred books of the Hindoos, espe- 
cially the Bhagavata Poiirana, speak of the four ages and of 
the pralayas, or cataclysms, which at different epochas have 
destroyed the human race. A tradition of five ages, analogous 
to that of the Mexicans, is found on the elevated plain of 
Thibet. If it be true that this . . . particular system of 
cosmogony, originated in Hindostan, it is probable also, that 
it passed thence, by the way of Iran and Chaldea, to the 
western nations. It cannot but be admitted that a certain 
resemblance exists between the Indian tradition of the Yougas 
and the Kalpas, the cycles of the ancient inhabitants of Etruria 
and that series of generations destroyed, which Hesiod char- 
acterizes under the emblem of four metals. 



Address by T. M. Harris 199 

"The nations of Culhua, or Mexico, says Gomara, believe, 
according to their hieroglyphical paintings, that, previous to 
the sun which now enlightens them, four had been succes- 
sively extinguished. These four suns are as many ages, in 
which our species have been annihilated by inundations, by 
earthquakes, by a general conflagration, and by the effect of 
destroying tempests. After the destruction of the fourth sun, 
the world was plunged in darkness during the space of twenty- 
five years. Amid this profound obscurity, ten years before 
the appearance of the fifth sun, mankind was regenerated. The 
gods, at that period, for the fifth time, created a man and 
a woman. The day on which the last sun appeared bore the 
sign Tochtli (rabbit) ; and the Mexicans reckon 850 years from 
this epocha to 1552." Researches, v. 2, p. 15. 

Note XV. — "Selon Acosta, liv. vl, c. 8, ces Quipos con- 
sistoient en des grains, ou noeuds de diverses couleurs, faits 
ou enfiles les uns a la suite des autres. Les differentes couleurs 
marquoient differens evenemens, et de choses egalement 
diflferentes entr'elles. Les Interpretes trouvoient dans le Qui- 
pos, et avec beaucoup d'exactitude, tout ce qu'on auroit pu 
attendre de Hvres destines a consacrer les evenemens his 
toriques, les ceremonies religieuses, les loix, et autres choses 
semblables. Ces gens s'appelloient Quipo-camayo, et Ton 
ajutoit foi aux reponses qu'ils faisoient sur les choses dont on 
leur demandoit le detail." Ulloa, Memoires, vol. ii, p. 359. 

The learned translators of the Great History of China, 
published at Paris, in torn, i, p. 4, speaking of soui-gin-chi, re- 
mark, — "II leur apprit une maniere de les instruire par le 
moyen de petites cordelettes sur lesquelles ils faissoient 
differens nceuds qui, par leur nombre et leur distance temoient 
lieu de I'ecriture qu'ils n'avoient pas." 

Note XVI. — Les Creoles du Perou, dit Frezier, font un 
cas particulier d'un petit pied; celle que la le plus petit passe 
pour la beaute le plus parfaite; et comme Ten vie de plaire 
existe chez toutes les femmes du monde, les Peruviennes, 
guidees par I'esprit de coquettrie, mettant de bonne heure leur 
pieds a la torture dans des soulieres forts etroits. 

"Tout le monde fait qu' a la Chine c'est un grand merite 
parmi le beau sexe d 'avoir le pied fort petit; et il est vraisem- 
blable que ce sont les Chinoises qui ont introduit cette mode 
dans le Peru; et cette coutume existoit en Peru avant I'arrivee 
des Espagnols." Scherer, Recherches sur le Nouveau Monde, 
p. 113. 



200 American Antiquarian Society 

Note XVII. — The Chilians, says the Abbe Molina, en- 
tertained an opinion that their country was peopled from the 
west. — An opinion "not so extravagant as at first sight 
may appear. The discoveries of the English na\dgators in 
the South Sea have ascertained that between America and 
the southern part of Asia there is a chain of innumerable 
islands, the probable remains of some vast tract of land 
which, in that quarter once united the two Continents, and 
rendered the communication between Asia and the opposite 
shore of America easy. From whence it is very possible that, 
while North America has been peopled from the northwest, 
the south has received its inhabitants from the southern parts 
of Asia, the natives of this part of the new world being of a mild 
character, much resembling that of the Southern Asiatics, and 
little tinctured with the ferocity of the Tartars. Like the 
languages of the Oriental Indians, theirs is also harmonious 
and abounds in vowels. The influence of climate may un- 
doubtedly affect language so far as to modify it, but can never 
produce a complete change in its primitive structure." His- 
tory of Chili, vol. ii, p. 2. 

Note XVIII. — President Dwight, in his Travels, vol. i, 
p. 125, remarks, "The traditions of all the American nations, 
so far as they are known, uniformly declare, that their ances- 
tors came from the West. Particularly this is asserted by the 
Mohekaneews, the Iroquois, and the Mexican nations. An In- 
dian historian of the Mohekaneews delivers it as the tradition 
of their ancestors, that they came in the direction of west by 
north from another country; that they passed over the great 
waters, where this country and that are nearly connected; 
and that they originally lived by the side of the ocean ; whence 
they derived their name ; which signifies, great waters, continu- 
ally in motion, or continually ebbing and flowing. ^^ 



MEETING OF JUNE 26, 1823 

At a semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, holden at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on Thurs- 
day the 26th of June a.d,, 1823. 

In the absence of the President, from indisposition. Rev. 
Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-President in the Chair. 



Meeting of October 23, 1823 201 

Voted, To adjourn this meeting to the last Thursday in 
July, at four o'clock p.m., then to meet at this place. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF JULY 31, 1823 

Thursday, July 31st, 1823. The Society met according to 
adjournment from June 26th, the President in the Chair. 

After a discussion of several subjects relating to the con- 
cerns of the Society and finding no business on which it was 
necessary to pass any other vote. 

Voted to dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1823 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at the Exchange Cofifee House, Boston, October 23, 1823. 
Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers. 

Chose Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-President. 
Hon. DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., 2d Vice-President. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 
Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Rev. William Jenks. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop. 
Hon. Oliver Fiske. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 
His Hon. Levi Lincoln. 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Recor'g Secretary. 
James Bowdoin, Esq., Assistant Secretary. 

Rev. Abiel Holmes. ) ^ 
Thaddeus M. Harris. f Correspondtng 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. ) Secretartes. 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., Treasurer. 
Elisha Clap, Assistant Treasurer. 



202 American Antiquarian Society 



Committee 

of 
Nomination. 



Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 

Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 

James C. Merrill, Esq. 

Rev. Francis Parkman. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 

His Honor Levi Lincoln. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ^ 

Rev. William Jenks. | Committee 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. ;- of 

Edward D. Bangs, Esq. j Puhlication. 

Samuel Jennison, Esq. j 

The report of the committee on the state of the Society 
was read and on motion accepted.^ 

The Treasurer's account was read. Mr. E. T. Andrews was 
appointed to audit the account, who reported that it was 
rightly cast and that $191.67 remained in the treasury. 

Voted, That the Counsellors in other States, and officers 
not chosen by the Society be chosen by the Sub-Council at 
Worcester.^ 

The committee appointed to revise the Bye-Laws, and that 
appointed to devise ways and means, etc., having made a joint 
report, which was in the hands of the recording Secretary at 
Worcester, no order was taken thereon. 

A letter was read from Dr. R. Anderson, of Edinburgh, 
dated i8th of September, 1822, acknowledging the honor 
conferred on him by his election as a member of this Society 
and his vidllingness to co-operate with it. 

A subscription paper for the pubhcation of the 2d Vol. of 
the Society's Collections was submitted and referred to the 
next meeting of the Society, after the following amendment 
was added thereto — viz. that each subscriber to the paper 
shall be entitled to as many copies of the volume as his sub- 
scription amounts to, at a deduction of twenty-five per cent, 
from the retail price thereof. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the third Thurs- 
day in January at 12 o'clock m., then to be held at the Ex- 
change Coffee House. 

Adjourned, 

Attest, 

James Bowdoin, Assistant Recor^g Sec'y. 

' The committee was Samuel Jennison and Edward D. Bangs, but their 
report is missing from the files. 

2 December 19, 1823, the Sub-Council reappointed all the Counsellors for 
the other states excepting that for Maryland. James H. McCulloh was 
appointed in place of John Leeds Bozman deceased. All the Receiving Officers 
were reappointed "with such variation as the President may deem expedient." 



Meeting of June 24, 1824 203 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by the Assist- 
ant Recording Secretary. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



•MEETING OF JANUARY 15, 1824 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, at the Exchange Cofifee House in Boston, January 
15th, 1824, 

Present, Hon. T. L. Winthrop, Rev. WilHam Jenks, and 
Rev. A. Holmes. Mr. Winthrop presided. 

The report of a committee for revising the Laws and for 
devising means to increase the funds of the Society was read.^ 

The Rev. Mr. Lowell, chairman of the committee, being 
necessarily absent, the report, by his request, was com- 
mimicated by the Rev. Mr. Jenks. The report was approved 
by the members present and referred to the next semi-annual 
meeting of the Society. 

Attest, 

A. Holmes, Sec'y. 

A true entry of the minutes of the proceedings as furnished 
by the Secretary pro tern. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recor'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JUNE 24, 1824 

At the semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Wednes- 
day June 24th A.D., 1824, in the absence of the President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft in the Chair. 

In the absence of the Recording Secretary, Samuel Jenni- 
son, Esq., chosen Secretary pro tern. 

Voted to adjourn this meeting to the first Wednesday of 
July next, then to meet at this place at 4 o'clock p.m. 

Samuel Jennison, Rec'g Sec'y pro tern. 

A true entry of the minutes of the proceedings as furnished 
by the Sec'y pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec^y. 

^ This report has not been found in the files. 



204 American Antiquarian Society 



MEETING OF JULY 7, 1824 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden at Antiquarian Hall on Wednesday the seventh 
day of July a.d., 1824. 

Voted, That the committee heretofore appointed, proceed 
to procure suitable cases and whatever is necessary to place 
the articles contained in the Cabinet in order, and to draw 
on the Treasurer for the amount of expense incurred for the 
purpose. 

Voted, That, as but a small number of the Society are 
present, it is advisable not to act on the report made at the 
last annual meeting by the Rev. Charles Lowell and others, 
and that the same be referred to the next annual meeting. 

Voted, That the President be a committee to procure from 
Boston the stone sent from Alabama by Col. Silas Dinsmore, 
mentioned in his communication to the Society.^ 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting .^ 

Saml. Jennison, Rec^g Sec'y pro tern. 

' An account of this stone was printed in the Procecdhigs for October, 1888. 

' In August an account of the Society's building and of an attempt to visit 
it, was printed in the New York Daily Advertiser and copied into the Rhode 
Island American of Aug. 20, 1824, from which it is here reprinted. 

The American Antiquarian Society 

A gentleman who has lately passed through Worcester, in Massachusetts, 
has furnished us with some interesting remarks relating to the American Anti- 
quarian Society, which it is well known is established in that beautiful town. 
The building which has been erected for the use of the Society by the munifi- 
cence of Isaiah Thomas, Esq., of Worcester, is planned with great judgment 
and taste. It is situated on a broad street, a Uttle removed from the centre 
of the town, where it is seen to great advantage, the view being obstructed by 
no neighbouring buildings; and the neat and chaste style in which it is con- 
structed, together with the handsome access through a court yard, give it an 
air well corresponding with the important literary objects to which it is devoted. 

On the first floor, are several apartments intended for the reception of pam- 
phlets, manuscripts, &c., for the use of the society, which are already the de- 
positories of such documents as have been collected since its formation. A 
large hall in the rear of the second story is devoted to the valuable library of 
curious and ancient books presented by Mr. Thomas, amounting to between 
7 and 8000 volumes. As this is the great depository of American hterature in 
all its branches, from the oldest and most obscure files of colonial newspapers, 
almanacks, &c. up to the most valuable works which have been published con- 
cerning America in this country and in Europe, its importance can hardly be 
too highly estimated. When it is recollected, that but for this Institution, 
many documents necessary to a thorough knowledge of our history, would soon 
be entirely lost to the world, every intelhgent man will consider himself and 
the publick deeply indebted to its founder. 

A visit to this edifice however, is not unattended with feelings of regret, for 
on requesting a view of the cabinet of curiosities and antiques, the stranger is 



Meeting of October 2j, 1824 205 

A true entry of the minutes of the proceedings as furnished 
by the Rec'g Sec'y pro tern. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1824. 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at the Exchange Coffee House, Boston, on the 23d day of 
October A. D., 1824 — 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop in the Chair, in the absence of 
the President and Vice-Presidents — ^ 

Chose Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-President. 
Hon. DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., 2d Vice-President. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 
Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Rev. William Jenks. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop. 

informed that no admission has been allowed for more than a year. _ There are 
collected all the interesting specimens of minerals, arms, utensils, dresses, 
ornaments, &c. which have been forwarded to the Society from different parts 
of the country, with which the world have been made acquainted through their 
pubhcations; but on account of the confused situation in which they are allowed 
to remain, they are considered unfit for exhibition. It seems that these valuable 
collections, together with the buildings in which they are deposited, are left 
without any superintendent. The President and members of the Board have 
indeed all necessary authority, and take care that they are protected from 
injury, but the undivided attention and labours of some fit person are abso- 
lutely required to arrange and keep them in order. It is much to be regretted 
that such a person should not be appointed for the purpose : it could be done 
at a very moderate expense, and would be the means not only of affording to 
strangers the gratification they naturally expect to derive from a visit to the 
place, but that expense would be soon reimbursed by preserving from decay or 
destruction the very objects for the preservation of which the institution was 
formed. 

Even at this distance we cannot but express a wish that such a measure 
might be taken, and we should look to the Antiquarian Society itself, to the 
town in which it is situated, or to the pubhck, whose gratification it would so 
much promote, were it not for the manifest impropriety of any foreign inter- 
ference in a national work instituted on so great a scale by the munificence of 
an individual. 

1 On Oct. 18, 1824, at a meeting of the Sub-Council, it was voted that the 
President and Treasurer prepare a report of the state of the Library, and of 
the funds of the Society, to be exhibited at the annual meeting on the 23rd inst. 
Apparently no report was submitted, although Isaiah Thomas's Diary records 
under date of October 20, "Made out a Report for the annual meeting." 



2o6 American Antiquarian Society 

Hon. Oliver Fiske. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
John Davis, Esq. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Recording Secretary. 

James Bowdoin, Esq., Assistant Secretary. 

Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., Corresponding Sec'y. 

Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D., Corresponding Sec'y. 

Samuel Jennison, Esq., Corresponding Sec'y. 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., Treasurer. 

Elisha Clap, Esq., Assistant Treasurer. 

Committee of Nomination 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. » 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Rev. Francis Parkman. 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. 

Committee of Publication 

Rev. Aaron Brancroft, D.D. 
Rev. William Jenks. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to devise ways and 
means for publishing the transactions and collections of the 
Society, and to ascertain as well as they can whether the 
Society will receive sufificient encouragement to justify their 
pubHcation, and to report at the adjournment of this meet- 
ing. Chose James Bowdoin, James C. Merrill, Elisha Clap, 
Esqrs. as committee. 

Voted to postpone the report of the committee consisting 
of the Rev. Mr. Lowell and others till the adjournment. 

Voted to adjourn this meeting to the second Wednesday 
of January next at 12 o'clock m., at this place.^ 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

' This meeting was never held as only one member appeared; the following 
letters from Mr. Bowdoin explain the reason: 
Rejoice Newton, Esq., Secretary [Address.] 
Dear Sir: — 

I have this moment received your letter, and was upon my way 
to the Central Office, when I recollected that I had forgotten the hour fixed for 
the meeting of the Antiq. Society. Will you be so good as to inform me on 
that head, in season for Saturday's paper. Should you be prevented from 
coming to Boston, I shall be obliged to you to send me the minutes of the last 



Meeting of June jo, 1825 207 



MEETING OF JUNE 30, 1825 

At a semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on Thurs- 
day the 30th day of June a.d., 1825 — - 

Voted, to adjourn this meeting to Thursday, -the 14th day 
of July next, at 4 o'clock p.m. at this place. 

meeting. If my memory serves me, the report on the organization of the Society 
made by Mr. Lowell, Mr. Jenks and my father, was referred to the adjourned 
meeting. This report is with you, I believe, at Worcester. Again, Mr. Merrill 
and myself were appointed to make a report on the means of obtaining aid in 
publishing, etc., etc. Will you be so good as to send me the vote at large. I 
am amxious to send my letter by today's mail, or I should not so hastily have 
indited it or subscribed myself. 

Respectfully, 

Your Ob't Servant, 

Jas. Bowdoin. 
Jan'y 3d, 1825. 

Boston, 9th March, 1825. 
Dear Sir: — 

I intended, at an earlier day, to have written you regarding the 
meeting of the American Antiq. Society, which was appointed for the 2d Wed- 
nesday in January last; but I am yet in time for the meeting at Worcester, and 
my delay will, therefore, be of no prejudice to the concerns of the Society. 

Your letter arrived in season only for the insertion in the Centinel of the day 
of the meeting; but was too late to enable me to make personal application to 
the members. And whether it were from either, or both these circumstances, 
so that gentlemen were not apprized of the meeting; or from the avocations of 
gentlemen in the Legislature and elsewhere, I know not. But no one made his 
appearance at the place assigned, save Mr. Merrill, to whom I have given the 
papers, being myself engaged in duties of charity at the Provident Institution 
for Savings. 

Regarding the duty assigned to Mr. Merrill and myself, we did not think it 
necessary to make a written report, intending to do it, after a free conversation 
at the meeting. Should you think it proper, that such a report should be sent 
you for the next meeting, it shall be done, if you will give us a week or ten days 
notice. 

Respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Jas. Bowdoin. 

There was no meeting of the Sub-Council at Worcester between Oct. 18, 1824, 
and June 13, 1825, "chiefly," says a note in the record book "on account of no 
return being made ... of the report of the committee on pubhshing and no return 
of the proceedings of an adjourned annual meeting." At a meeting of the Sub- 
Council on June 13th, 1825, it was voted: "That the Counsellors for other 
States than Massachusetts, and receiving officers, etc., chosen the last year 
be requested to continue in office for the present year, and that no others be 
chosen for the present year." 



2o8 American Antiquarian Society 

MEETING OF JULY 14, 1825 

At an adjourned meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden at Antiquarian Hall on Thursday the 14th 
day of July a.d., 1825, at 4 o'clock p.m. 

Voted to proceed to ballot for the election of members of 
this Society. The foUomng gentlemen were balloted for and 
elected, to wit — 

George Seldon, Esq., Meadville, Penn. 

Adino N. Bracket, Esq., Lancaster, N. Hampshire. 

Dr. D. Gregorio Funes. 

Don Manxjel Moreno. 

John Murray Forbes, Esq., Am. Consul at Buenos Ayres. 

James Mease, M.D., Philadelphia. 

WiLKiNS Tannehill, Esq., Tennessee. 

Rev. J. BoswoRTH, Little Horwood, Bucks, England. 

William Lincoln, Esq., Worcester. 

Alfred Dwight Foster, Esq., Worcester [declined]. 

General Lafayette, La Grange, France. 

Voted, That the committee appointed by the Sub-Council 
at Worcester, to arrange the Cabinet be requested to take 
the management and control of Antiquarian Hall and to 
execute the duties of their appointment in such manner as 
they may think proper and fmd convenient. And that they 
be authorized to draw on the Treasurer for the expenses in- 
curred by them to the amount of any monies in his hands not 
other^dse appropriated. 

Voted, That the Corresponding Secretary be requested to 
address a letter to the Governor of the State of New York, 
requesting his aid in procuring from the Legislature of that 
State a copy of their judicial decisions, statutes, and the 
journals of the two Houses of the Legislature, for the use of 
this Society. 

Voted, That WiUiam Lincoln, Esq., be added to the com- 
mittee for arranging the Cabinet. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, 1825 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety holden at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Mon- 
day the 24th day of October a.d., 1825. 



Meeting of June 2g, 1826 209 

In the absence of the President. Rev. WilKam Jenks, 
President pro tern. Isaac Goodwin, Sec'y pro tern. 

Chose by ballot the following ofi&cers Isaiah Thomas LL.D., 
President, Rejoice Newton, Esq., Secretary. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the next semi- 
annual meeting to be held at Worcester, and that the other 
officers of the Institution exercise the duties of their several 
offices until that time. 

Isaac Goodwin, Sec'y pro tem. 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by Isaac 
Goodwin, Esq., Sec'y pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF JUNE 29, 1826 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Worcester on Thursday the 29th day of June a.d., 1826, 
by adjournment from the annual meeting holden in Boston 
on the 24th day of October last. 

The President in the Chair and Samuel Jennison, Esq., 
Sec'y pro tem. 

The Society chose the following officers. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-Pres'L 

His Exc'y DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., 2d Vice-Pres't. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 
Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
His Honor Thomas L. Winthrop. 
His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 
Hon. John Davis. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Isaac Goodwin, Esq. 

James Bowdoin, Esq., Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., Corresponding Sec'y. 

Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D., Corresponding Sec'y. 

William Lincoln, Esq., Corresponding Sec'y. 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., Treasurer. 

Elisha Clap, Esq., Assistant Treasurer. 



2IO American Antiquarian Society 

Committee of Nominations 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Rev. Francis Parkman. 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft. 
His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 

Committee of Publication 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev. William Jenks. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Hon. Edward D. Bangs. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

William Lincoln, Esq., Librarian, &°c. 

Voted, That the appointment of all officers of the Society 
not chosen at this time be left to the Sub-Council at Wor- 
cester.^ 

Samuel Jennison, Sec'y pro tern. 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by Sam'l 
Jennison, Esq., Sec'y pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 

At a semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Thurs- 
day, the 29th June a.d., 1826 

The President in the Chair 

Samuel Jennison, Esq., Rec'g Sec'y pro tem. 

John Da\ds, William Lincoln and Samuel Jennison, Esq's., 
were appointed a committee to inquire what measures can 
be taken for the better accommodation of persons desirous of 
visiting the Library and Cabinet — to report at the time to 
which this meeting shall be adjourned. 

Adjourned to Thursday, July 13th, 3 o'clock p.m., at this 
place. 

Att., Samuel Jennison, Rec. Sec. pro tem. 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by Samuel 
Jennison, Esq., Rec. Sec. pro tem. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec. Sec. 

* At a meeting of the Sub-Council held on June 29, 1826 (the first since 
October 20, 1825), it was voted: — "That the officers who were appointed last 
year for the other States, be continued in office until the next annual meeting 
in October next." 



Meeting of October 2j, 1826 211 

MEETING OF JULY 13, 1826 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Thursday, the 13th 
day of July a.d., 1826, by adjournment from the 29th day of 
June last. 

The committee appointed at the former meeting reported 
verbally — That they advise, that the Librarian be author- 
ized to employ some suitable person or persons to assist him 
in the performance of his duties, which report is accepted — 
whereupon 

Voted, That the foregoing report be carried into effect 
under the directions and superintendence of the same com- 
mittee.^ 

Balloted for and chosen as members of this Society 

Rev. Joseph Allen, Northborough. 

Joseph Willard, Esq., Lancaster. 

Hon. Daniel Waldo, Worcester. 

Pliny Merrick, Esq., Worcester. 

JosiAH Willard Gibbs, New Haven, Conn. 

Adam Winthrop, Esq., Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Voted, That Mr. Lincoln be requested to advise Mr. Waldo 
of his election as a member of the Society. 



Dissolved this meeting, 



Rejoice Newton, Rec. Sec^y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1826 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety holden at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, on 
Monday the 23d October, a.d., 1826. 

In the absence of the President and Vice-Presidents, Hon. 
Benjamin Russell in the Chair. 

The officers of the year en.suing were chosen unanimously, 
as follows : 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev'd Dr. Aaron Bancroft, ist Vice-President. 

His Exc'y DeWitt Clinton, LL.D., 2d Vice-President. 

^ At a meeting of the Sub-Council, held July 13, 1826, the Librarian was 
"requested to take an assistant and put the hbrary and cabinet in better order, 
which was soon after attended to." The Librarian in his report at the annual 
meeting, 1827, calls C. C. Baldwin "again" his assistant. 



212 



American Antiquarian Society 



Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 
Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Rev'd Dr. Willl\m Jenks. 
Rev'd Dr. Charles Lowell. 
His Honor Thomas L. Winthrop. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 
His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 
Hon. John Davis. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Isaac Goodwin, Esq. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq'r, Recording Secretary. 
James Bowdoin, Esq'r, AssH Rec^g Sec'y. 
Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq'r, Treasurer. 
Elisha Clap, Esq'r., Assis't Treasurer. 



Counsellors. 



Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Rev'd Dr. Charles Lowell. 
James C. Merrill, Esq'r. 
Rev'd Francis Parkman. 
Rev'd Dr. Aaron Bancroft. 
His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 

Rev'd Dr. Aaron Bancroft. 
Rev'd Dr. William Jenks. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Hon. Edward D. Bangs. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 



Committee 

of 
Nominations. 



Committee 

of 
Publications. 



William Lincoln, Esq'r., Librarian and Cabinet Keeper. 

The account of the Treasurer, by which it appears that 
$27.96 remains in the treasury, was read; and Isaac Good- 
win, Esq'r, appointed a committee to audit the account and 
to report at the adjourned meeting. 

The Report of the Librarian and Cabinet Keeper was read 
and accepted; and referred to a committee, Hon. Benjamin 
Russell and James Bowdoin, Esq., to publish the whole or 
such part of it as should seem advisable.^ 

It was voted that when this meeting adjourn, it adjourn to 
meet at Worcester, on the 23d day of November next. 

Voted, That the Committee of PubHcations be directed to 
ascertain on what terms a volume of the Transactions of this 
Society can be pubHshed, and report at the adjourned meet- 
ing. 

Voted, That the Counsellors in other States and other 

1 The reports of the Librarian for 1826-1829 are not in the Society's files, 
but were printed in various newspapers, and are here reprinted in full at the 
end of the records of the annual meetings of these several years. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1826 213 

officers not chosen by the Society, be chosen by the Sub- 
Council at Worcester.^ 

The meeting was then adjourned to meet at Worcester, in 
accordance with the preceding vote. 

Attest, James Bowdoin, Ass't Recording Secretary. 



Librarian's Report ^ 

The Librarian and Cabinet Keeper of the American Anti- 
quarian Society has the honor to report : — 

That from their late state of disorder, the books are now 
disposed in appropriate and separate departments, accord- 
ing to the subjects treated of in each; specimens illustrating 
the antiquities and history of the country, the progress of its 
arts and the value of its mineral productions, have been 
placed in order on the shelves of cabinets previously procured 
for their reception. The whole collection is so placed in the 
rooms of the building belonging to the Society, that each 
volume and specimen may be conveniently found and ex- 
amined. During the greater part of the past summer months, 
the Librarian or his assistant have been constantly in attend- 
ance, and every stranger who has procured the permission of 
a member of the Society for his admission, has freely visited 
the Halls and viewed the rich and rare deposits contained there. 
Many have availed themselves of the privilege; and the 
Librarian has enjoyed the pleasure of contributing to the 
gratification, not only of many gentlemen of distinction for 
learning and science among our own citizens, but of natives 
of foreign countries. 

Since the last annual meeting of the Society, books of the 
estimated value of five hundred and sixty dollars have been 
added to the Library. Of these, volumes of the value of four 
hundred and thirty-six dollars have been presented by Doct'r 
Thomas, the President of the Society. His liberal dona- 
tions included a Polyglot Bible in 8 vols., large foHo, with 
engraved and beautifully colored title-pages, in the original 
binding and in a high state of preservation (Antwerp 1568); 

^ At a meeting of the Sub-Council, December 4, 1826, it was voted: — 
"that the President make out a list of officers to be acted upon at an adjourn- 
ment." In the record of a meeting, December 18, 1826, is the brief statement, 
"ofl&cers chosen," but no list is either recorded or on file. 

* This report is reprinted from the Columbian Centinel, Oct. 28, 1826. 



214 American Antiquarian Society 

a Polyglot New Testament in twelve languages (Eliae Hut- 
teri, 2 vols., folio, Noribergae, 1599); "Rainerii Summae 
Theologiae," in one large folio, Venice, i486, containing 19 
splendid golden capital letters and elegantly illuminated 
throughout; a large Hebrew Bible (Hamburg 1587, Ehae 
Hutteri); and more recent works particularly described on 
the catalogue of donations. Presents of value have also been 
made by Dr. Jacob Porter, Rev. Jared Sparks, Gen. Roger 
Alden, Dr. Benjamin Heywood, Rev. Timothy Alden, and 
others which the Hmits of a brief report do not permit the 
Librarian to describe more minutely. 

The Cabinet has been increased in extent, variety and 
worth, by donations of relics of Indian arts and workman- 
ship, bows, arrows, hatchets, and utensils of cuhnary use as 
well as weapons of warfare. Some coins of copper and some 
papers of continental currency, have been received from 
several individuals. 

The Library of the American Antiquarian Society now 
contains more than seven thousand volumes. Of these, 
nearly one thousand volumes are newspapers. In the num- 
ber and variety of these periodical publications, the invalu- 
able documents of history, presenting vivid and distinct 
pictures of the manners and feehngs of the people, the pass- 
ing events, and spirit of the times, the collection is probably 
unrivalled on the continent. It contains entire and perfect 
files of many interesting Journals which are not known to be 
now preserved in other Libraries, and which were principally 
collected by the author of the "History of Printing" at great 
expense of money and trouble. 

The General Government and the Legislatures of many of 
the States of the union have transmitted their respective 
Laws and Journals of public proceedings. Communications 
have been made to the executive officers of the qther States, 
requesting similar presents. Should the collection of these 
documents be completed, the inquirer into our institutions 
might find the materials for history gathered from Maine to 
Louisiana, into a single apartment for his convenience and 
use. 

The Librarian begs leave most respectfully to suggest to 
the gentlemen of the Society, the propriety of adopting 
measures to procure additions to the Library by deposits of 
the works daily issuing from the prolific presses of our country. 
The Acts of Congress for the promotion of literature, by 



Meeting of November 2j, 1826 215 

securing the copy-rights to the authors of works, makes the 
deposit of one copy in their own Hbrary a condition of the 
grant. The English statutes, while they secure the beneficial 
monopoly to the writer, require that in return for the ad- 
vantage he obtains for the public of exclusive property, he 
should bestow twelve copies for the public use. 

Probably, should application be made to the National- 
Legislature, an amendment might be obtained, requiring that 
a copy of the work to be secured, should also be placed in the 
Library of this Institution. Perhaps the same object could 
be as conveniently obtained by a direct appeal to the liber- 
ality, or the pride, of authors, who are usually so much in- 
fluenced by that love of distinction and honorable ambition 
which seeks to enlighten or amuse the present age, as to be 
equally desirous their labors should pass down to other 
periods by every channel of communication. 

All which is very respectfully submitted by 
William Lincoln, 

Lib. and Cab. Keeper of A. A. S. 



MEETING OF NOVEMBER 23, 1826 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on the 23d day of Novem- 
ber, A.D., 1826. 

Isaac Goodwin, Esq., who was appointed to audit the 
Treasurer's account, reported that there was a balance in the 
hands of the Treasurer of twenty-seven dollars and ninety- 
six cents. 

Voted, That a committee be chosen to see on what terms 
and in what manner the collections and transactions of the 
Society may be published — and this committee consist of 
two: Isaac Goodwin and WilHam Lincoln, Esq's, chosen. 

Chose Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D. 1^ ^ ,. 
Rev. Thad's M. Harris, D.D. Conespondtng 
William Lincoln, Esq. ) ^^'^^'i^'''''- 

Voted, To adjourn this meeting without day. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec'y. 



2i6 American Antiquarian Society 

MEETING OF JANUARY 24, 1827 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
atthe house of the Rev. Dr. Bancroft, Vice-President, in 
Worcester, on Wednesday, January 24, a.d., 1827. 

Voted, That the delegation of this State in the Congress of 
the United States be requested to use their exertions to pro- 
cure the passage of an Act of Congress at the present session 
to provide for copying the papers and documents in the 
Plantation and other ofifices in England relating to the early 
history of this country. 

Voted to adjourn this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec*g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JUNE 28, 1827 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Thursday, the 28th day 
of June, A.D., 1827. 

Isaac Goodwin and WiUiam Lincoln, Esq's, a committee 
appointed at a meeting holden on the 23d day of November 
last, reported — "That no publisher appears willing to make 
any proposals until he can be furnished with a copy or Hst of 
the papers proposed to be published." 

Voted, That the pubKshing conmiittee be instructed to 
make a selection of such papers and documents as they may 
think proper to form a second volume of the Society's Col- 
lections and report the same to the committee appointed to 
ascertain of some publisher the terms upon which the work 
may be printed. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the last Thurs- 
day of July next, at three o'clock p.m., then to meet at this 
place. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF JULY 26, 1827 

The Society met July 26th, agreeably to adjournment from 
the 28th of June last, and 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Meeting of October 2j, 182 j 217 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1827 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety holden at the Exchange Coffee House, Boston, October 
23d, 1827. 

His Honor Thomas L. Winthrop, in the absence of the 
President, was called to the chair. 

Mr. William Lincoln, Librarian, read his own report re- 
garding the Library, containing a Kst of the most valuable 
books presented to it since the last annual meeting — Report 
accepted and Mr. Lincoln requested to pubhsh it. 

Christopher C. Baldwin, Esq., and Charles Allen, Esq., 
both of Worcester, Emory Washburn, Esq., of Leicester, and 
Jared Sparks, of Boston, having been nominated by the 
nominating committee, were unanimously elected members. 

Chose Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ) xr- ^ -j * 
His Exc'v DeWitt Clinton. \ V^ce-Prestdents. 

For Counsellors 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins. 
Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Rev. William Jenks, D.D. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
His Honor Thomas L. Winthrop. 
Hon. Abijah Bigelow. 
His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 
Hon. John Davis. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Isaac Goodwin, Esq. 

Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 
James Bowdoin, Assistant Secretary. 
Nathaniel Maccarty, Treasurer. 
Edward D. Bangs, Assistant Treasurer. 

For Committee of Nomination 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Charles Lowell, D.D. 
James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Rev. Francis Parkman. 
Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 

For Committee of Publication 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev. William Jenks, D.D. 



2i8 American Antiquarian Society 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 
William Lincoln, Esq. 

Christopher C. Baldwin, Librarian and Cabinet Keeper. 

Report of the Treasurer was read, by which it appeared 
there was a balance of $34.95 cents in his hands. 

WilHam Lincohi was appointed to audit the Treasurer's 
accounts and to report at the next meeting at Worcester. 

The recording Secretary was directed to make out a Hst of 
members. 

Voted, that the Counsellors in other States and the other 
oflScers not elected by the Society be chosen by the Sub- 
Council at Worcester.^ 

The thanks of the Society were voted to Wm. Lincoln, Esq., 
for his faithful services as Librarian. 

Voted to dissolve this meeting. 
Attest, 

James Bowdoin, AssH Rec^g Sec'y. 

A copy as furnished by the Assistant Recording Secretary. 
Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Librarian's Report ^ 

The Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, in 
discharging the last duty of the office with which he has been 
honored, respectfully reports — 

That during the past year the halls of the Society have 
been freely opened to those who have been induced by general 
curiosity, or the desire of prosecuting historical researches, to 
seek admission. Again availing himself of the very valuable 
services of Christopher C. Baldwin, Esq., the librarian, or his 
assistant,^ has had the gratification of exhibiting the col- 
lections entrusted to his care, to those scholars and travellers 
from different parts of the United States and foreign lands, 
who have been led to the place of their deposit by the avo- 
cations of business, or in the pursuit of amusement. While 
he has been mindful to explain to all, that the objects of the 

* There is no record of any meeting of the Sub-Council between October 22, 
1827, and October 17, 1828. 

^ Reprinted from the Boston Courier, Nov. 12, 1827. 

' This is the only reference to the appointment of Mr. Baldwin as the libra- 
rian's assistant in accordance with the vote passed in June, 1826. 



Meeting of October 2j, 182^ 219 

institution were the collection and preservation of those 
books, documents and relics which tend to elucidate the past 
or present history of our country, he has been happy to re- 
ceive from many, assurances of aid in accompKshing its pur- 
poses. 

The period which has passed since the last annual report 
was submitted, in compHance with the requisitions of the 
laws of the institution, has not been fruitful of expectations 
and in promises alone. The Library has been increased by 
the addition of many books, and the Cabinet enriched with 
specimens of the workmanship of the aboriginal inhabitants 
of New England, rehcs illustrating the condition of the arts 
among the red men of the forest, and articles of scientific 
value, or general interest. These additions have been de- 
rived 

I St. From the munificence of the President; 

2d. The llberaHty of authors and publishers; 

3d. The deposits of public bodies and other associations; 

4th. The donations of members; 

5th. The gratuities of other individuals. 

1. The President, whose generosity in bestowing the books 
and manuscripts of the Mathers, has preserved the remains 
of one of the most ancient libraries of New England, and who 
has heretofore presented gifts of the value of many thousand 
dollars, has, during the past year, added to the collections of 
the Society, books exceeding in price two hundred dollars. 
Among them are, the folio edition of the German Bible of 
Archbishop Carl, with plates, printed at Frankfort, in 1730 
[1740]; and Martin's Bible, in French, the edition of 1739; 
both valuable additions to the extensive collections of edi- 
tions of the Holy Scriptures, in almost all ancient and modern 
languages, and of various dates, from 1447 [sic] to the current 
year; the residue of his donation consists of periodical works, 
recent publications, and curious tracts. 

2. The Hberality of authors and publishers has been more 
active during the past year than heretofore. The Weekly 
Messenger for twelve years, has been presented by Nathan 
Hale, Esq., The Columbian Centinel, New England Palla- 
dium, New England Galaxy, Rhode Island American, Ohio 
Monitor and National Aegis, for 1826-7, by the respective 
pubhshers of those papers; Memoirs of the life and character 
of the venerable John Eliot, by the Rev. Martin Moore; 



220 American Antiquarian Society 

Catalogue of organic remains, &c., by Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill; 
Reflections on emigration, by Mathew Carey; Poems, by Dr. 
Jacob Porter; Annals of Keene, N. H., by Salma Hale; 
History of Chelmsford, by Rev. Wilkes Allen; The American 
Journal of Science and Arts, by Professor Silliman; several 
tracts, by their author. Professor Rafinesque; an edition of 
an ancient Scandinavian Poem, commemorative of the ex- 
ploits of King Regnar Lodbrok, with a fac-simile of the original 
manuscript and translations into Danish, French and Latin, 
published at Copenhagen in 1826, by Professor Rafn; and 
many smaller works and tracts by other persons. 

3. The Laws of Delaware, in continuation, have been 
furnished, in obedience to resolves of the Legislative Assembly 
of that State. The Congress of the United States has be- 
stowed the series of public documents of the general Govern- 
ment, and a resolve of the Legislature of this Common- 
wealth has given to this Society the papers published at its 
late and future sessions. The collections of the Worcester 
County Lyceum of Natural History, including several thous- 
and shells, minerals, plants and insects, and embracing many 
prints, engravings and books, have, by the permission of the 
Council of this Society, been deposited in one of the rooms of 
the Antiquarian Hall, together with the manuscripts of the 
Worcester County Historical Society, relating to the exertions 
and sufferings of the revolutionary contest. The constitu- 
tions of these associations provide that, on their dissolution, 
their property shall be given to some public incorporated 
institution, established in the town of Worcester; and although 
it may be painful to anticipate the decease of societies which 
have been useful in their local sphere of operation, we may 
derive consolation in the contemplation of such calamitous 
events, from the consideration that the American Antiquarian 
Society will, in all probabihty, become the residuary legatee 
of their considerable acquisitions. 

4. Although all the members of this Society have not been 
practically mindful that each should annually contribute 
some article worthy of preservation in its library or cabinet, 
yet many have increased the wealth of both by their dona- 
tions during the past year. Among the works presented by 
Theophilus Wheeler, Esq., a Prymardaye's translation of the 
"French Academic of Moral Philosophic" of 1586: and the 
Greek Testament of Stephanus in the London edition of 
1633, accompanied by the "Whole Book of Psalmes by 



Meeting of October 2j, 182/ 221 

Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins," with musical melodies 
every way corresponding to the harmonious poetry. The 
Hon. John Davis of Worcester, has furnished many public 
documents of the general Government; Isaac Goodwin, Esq., 
coins of the "Pine-tree" impression of New England; the 
Hon. Daniel Waldo a great sum of money in bills of the "con- 
tinental currency"; and Dr. John Green several Indian im- 
plements. 

5. Recent testimony that the pubHc appreciate the objects 
of the Society has been furnished by the liberality of indi- 
viduals not bound by the duties of membership to aid in the 
common labors of collection. Josiah Flagg, Esq., for twenty- 
seven successive years the clerk of the ancient town of Lan- 
caster, has presented several rehcs of the workmanship of 
the natives of Nashaway. The Rev. Mr. Crosby of West 
Boylston, has bestowed a large MS. Letter-Book of Gov. 
Belcher, containing his private and official correspondence in 
his government of New Jersey, from September 1747 to 
October 1748, and supplementary to the volumes preserved 
in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Ac- 
knowledgments are also due to Mr. Beaman, of West Boyl- 
ston, for many interesting manuscripts of his ancestors; to 
Mr. Drake of Providence [sic] for a copy of the new edition 
of Col. Church's Narrative of the War with Philip, the patriot 
sachem of Mount Hope; to Mr. H. B. Goodwin, of Cam- 
bridge, for the Book of Psalms, printed at Lyons in 1542; to 
the Hon. Mr. Seymour, of Middlebury, for the State Papers 
of Vermont; to Miss Robinson, Mr. W. Manning, Mr. T. W. 
Bancroft, Messrs. Barber, and W. E. Green, Esq., of Wor- 
cester, for the gifts of curiosities, articles of scientific value, 
and relics of antiquity. 

The Antiquarian Society has now arrived at the termina- 
tion of the fourteenth year of its existence. It possesses more 
than 7,000 bound volumes, 15,000 tracts, a vast mass of un- 
published MSS, a Cabinet rich in coins, medals, shells and 
fossils; a collection of the weapons of Indian warfare, orna- 
ments of savage dress and vessels of cuHnary use probably 
unrivalled for extent and variety; and many specimens illus- 
trating the condition of the arts in past periods and their 
subsequent progress. The shelves of its Library have little 
of splendor to catch the eye of the idle spectator, but within 
the black and time-worn bindings are many rare and scarce 
works to interest the student of history. The collection of 



2 22 American Antiquarian Society 

newspapers is particularly valuable: all those procured at 
great expense by the author of the History of Printing and 
preserved by the venerable Dr. Bentley are in the alcoves. 

The limited revenues of the Society do not permit sub- 
scriptions for those periodicals which embody the spirit of 
the times with the record of passing events. When we con- 
sider the great and increasing value of a full collection of the 
newspapers of our country, and the slight tax imposed on 
the publishers by asking the annual deposit of their files for 
the benefit of posterity, we cannot but regret that the honor- 
able examples of liberality so happily furnished by many 
editors, have not been imitated b}' all. Our public journals, 
by the faithful transcript of the events that interest and the 
passions which agitate the community, exhibiting the vivid 
picture of the present, will become invaluable to the annalist 
and historian. The resources of the Society are also un- 
fortunately inadequate to procure those new works, daily 
sent from the press, which illustrate the progress of American 
Literature, for deposit in a situation secured from destruction, 
by fire, injury in circulation, or loss by accident, where they 
may be preserved for the use of other generations. If the 
importance of the objects to be attained were duly estimated 
we cannot hesitate to believe that the generosity of authors 
and publishers, insisting on their prior right of presentation, 
would prevent the necessity of appropriating any of the funds 
of the Society for the purchase of their folios of four pages or 
larger works. 

In conclusion the Librarian, while he returns his grateful 
acknowledgments to the Society for the honor they have 
conferred upon him, asks to be released from the future per- 
formance of the duties of the ofiice he has held during the 
past year. 

All which is respectfully submitted by 

William Lincoln, 

Librarian A. A. S. 
Worcester, Oct., 23, 1827. 



MEETING OF JUNE 26, 1828 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
[at] Antiquarian Hall, Worcester, June 26th, 1828. 

Voted, That the Librarian and Cabinet Keeper be requested 



Meeting of October 2j, 1828 223 

to label all paintings and engravings of the Society exhibited 
in the Hall, describing their names and character, with such 
other [matters] relating thereto as may be convenient. 

Voted, That the Corresponding Secretary in Worcester be 
directed to address letters to the Executives of the several 
States, from which the Society has not received copies of 
the laws of such States, requesting that one copy of the laws 
may be presented, and also one copy of the judicial decisions, 
when the same are at the disposal of the Government. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1828 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety held at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, on the 
23d day of Oct., 1828, at half past 10 a.m. 

The annual account of the Treasurer, N. Maccarty, Esq're, 
was read; by which it appears that $27.12 remain in the 
Treasury, the payments during the year having amounted to 
the sum of $12.84. 

A report of the auditor, P. Merrick, Esq're, appointed at 
a former meeting, was then read, certifying the accuracy of 
the above account, and the correctness of the vouchers. 

The Report of the Librarian, C. C. Baldwin, Esq're, was 
then read and accepted; and it was voted, that the Report 
be placed on the files, and that it be published in the usual 
manner. 

Prior to the election of officers, the death of Gov. DeWitt 
CUnton, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, was men- 
tioned; as was, also, the resignation of the Hon. Abijah 
Bigelow, one of the Counsellors. The following gentlemen 
were then elected officers for the year ensuing, viz. 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ) xr- n -j i 
His Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop. } V^ce-Presidents. 

Counsellors 
Hon. Edward H. Robbins. His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. Hon. John Davis. 

Rev'd William Jenks, D.D. Samuel M. Burnside, Esq're. 
Rev'd Charles Lowell, D.D. Isaac Goodwin, Esq're. 
James C. Merrill, Esq're. Samuel Jennison, Esq're. 



224 American Antiquarian Society 

Rejoice Newton, Esq're, Recording Secretary. 

James Bowtjoin, Esq're, Ass't Recording Secretary. 

Rev'd Th. M. Harris, D.D., Corresponding Sec'y. 

William Lincoln, Esq're, Ass^t Corresponding Sec'y. 

Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq're, Treasurer. 

Hon. Edward D. Bangs, AssH Treasurer. 

C. C. Baldwin, Esq're, Librarian and Cabinet Keeper. 

Committee of Nomination 
Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Rev'd Charles Lowell, D.D. 
James C. Merrill, Esq're. 
Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
His Excellency Levi Lincoln. 

Committee of Publication 
Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev'd Willlam Jenks, D.D. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq're. 
William Lincoln, Esq're. 

A Report of the Sub-Council at Worcester was then read 
by Mr. Goodwin, which, after mentioning the increase of the 
Library to more than eight thousand volumes, stated the 
great want of funds in order to effect the objects of the So- 
ciety, and proposed some measures to obtain them. A dis- 
cussion ensued on the means of raising funds, etc., etc., which 
ended in the adoption of the following votes, drawn up by the 
Rev'd Dr. Lowell, viz. 

That a committee be raised to procure, if practicable, a 
sum adequate to the expense of publishing a volume of the 
Transactions of the Society, and a Catalogue of the books 
and tracts in the Library; and 

That the same committee be instructed to consider the ex- 
pediency of increasing the sum to be paid on admission to 
the Society, and of laying an annual assessment on its mem- 
bers; and 

That the same committee suggest such alterations of the 
Constitution, or rules of the Society, respecting the number 
of members and the mode of nomination, as they may deem 
expedient. 

It was Voted, that the committee consist of four, and the 
following gentlemen were elected its members, viz. Mr. 
Goodwin, Col. Merrick, Mr. Jennison and Mr. Washburn. 

Dr. Lowell suggested the importance of more frequent 
meetings of the Sub-Council in this city and its neighborhood. 

The meeting was then dissolved. 
Attest, 

James Bowdoin, Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1828 225 

It was, also, Voted at the said meeting, Oct. 23, 1828, that 
the Counsellors in other States, and other ofi&cers not elected 
by the Society, be chosen by the Sub-Council at Worcester,^ 
Attest, 

James Bowdoin, Ass't Rec'g Secret'y. 



Librarian's Report ^ 

The Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society begs 
leave to report. 

That, during the past year, many valuable additions have 
been made to the Library of the Society. The whole number 
of books added during that period, exclusive of manuscripts 
and pamphlets, is one hundred and forty-two, and estimated 
to be worth three hundred and twenty dollars. Among these 
are the entire printed documents of the first session of the 
eighteenth and second session of the nineteenth Congress of 
the United States, comprised in thirty-nine octavo volumes 
and presented to the Society by Congress; all the laws and 
pubKc documents of the States of New Hampshire and Massa- 
chusetts printed during the last year and presented to the 
Society by the Legislatures of those States. 

The acknowledgments of the Society are due to the His- 
torical Society of Rhode Island for the first number of its 
Collections, to the Historical Society of New Hampshire for 
the 2nd volume of its Collections, and to the American Philo- 
sophical Society for the first and second parts of the 3d vol- 
ume of its Transactions; to the Rev. C. C. P. Crosby for a 
foHo volume of manuscript letters of Gov. Jonathan Belcher; 
to Alfred D. Foster, Esq., for the return and orderly books of 
the ist and 2d brigades of the Massachusetts Militia during 
the War of the Revolution, with other manuscripts relating 
to the same period; to Samuel Salisbury, Esq., for a col- 
lection of books and pamphlets; to the venerable President 
of the Society, who, to use the language of the very learned 
Cotton Mather, "hath kindly mecenated our labors" more 
than any one, for a donation in books amounting in value to 
the sum of one hundred and seventy dollars. Many other 
small donations in books and pamphlets have been made 

^ There is no record of such appointments and no record of a meeting of the 
Sub-Council between October 20, 1828, and October 16, 1829. 
^ Reprinted from the National Aegis, Nov. 5, 1828. 



226 American Antiquarian Society 

during the year by various individuals whose names, with 
their donations, are recorded in a book kept for that purpose. 

The Cabinet of the Society within the past year, has been 
enriched by the addition of many articles of curiosity. Dr. 
Howe has kindly furnished a case of interesting objects of 
antiquity taken from ancient tombs in Attica. Several 
articles of Indian origin, apparently designed for the purpose 
of the chase or war, have been received. 

The Society is indebted to the President for an Indian 
painting of "Time and Youth"; the late Gov. Clinton for an 
ancient lead land-mark found at the mouth of the Muskingum, 
which was planted there by direction of the French govern- 
ment, bearing a French inscription, showing that they claimed 
the territory in that quarter; to Chris. C. Baldwin for a map, 
by Timothy Clements, of Forts Edward and WilHam Henry, 
pubUshed in 1757. 

The Library of the Society is rich in its collection of pam- 
phlets. Many of them are scarce and all more or less valuable. 
Their number is thought to be several thousand, a great por- 
tion of which are unbound and must remain in that con- 
dition imtil the funds of the institution shall be large enough 
to meet the expenses of binding them. Their number is 
rapidly increasing and they compose too important an item 
among the materials of history to be neglected. 

It is believed that, from a comparison of the catalogues of 
the various Public Libraries, the collection of newspapers be- 
longing to the Library of the Society is among the most valu- 
able and extensive that are to be found in the United States. 
In all there are nearly a thousand volumes, seven hundred of 
which are neatly and serviceably bound and constitute a 
connected series from the Boston News Letter to the present 
time. 

Christopher C. Baldwin, 
Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society. 
Boston, Oct. 23, 1828. 



MEETING OF JUNE 25, 1829 

At a semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on Thurs- 
day, the 25th day of June, a.d., 1829. The President in the 
Chair. 



Meeting of October 2j, i82g 227 

Voted, That the committee appointed at the last annual 
meeting (who reported that they had not completed the 
business of their appointment) have leave to report at an ad- 
journment of this, or at the next annual meeting. 

Voted, To proceed to ballot for the choice of a member. 
Chose Senor Manuel L. Vidaurre. 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be presented to the 
President for his kind offer to furnish the Society with such 
number of copies of the first volume of Archaeologia Ameri- 
cana, as may enable them to present one to each of the His- 
torical Societies in the United States and to the publishers of 
the most important periodical pubHcations. 

Voted, To choose a committee to carry into effect the fore- 
going vote and a vote passed by the Sub-Council at Worcester 
on the i8th June, 1828, to send a copy of the same work to 
the Library of Congress and one to the Executive of each 
State. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the 4th Monday 
of August next, at 3 o'clock p.m., at this place. 
Attest, 

Rejoice Newton, Rec. Sec'y. 



MEETING OF AUGUST 24, 1829 

The Society met according to adjournment, August 24, 
529, and after discussing various subjects. 
Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1829 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety, held at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston, on the 
23d day of October, 1829, at 11 o'clock: 

The Rev'd Dr. Bancroft, the senior Vice-President, in the 
Chair. 

A note from the Pres't, Dr. Thomas, was read, communi- 
cating sundry papers addressed to the Society. These papers, 
the one, from Senor Manuel L. Vidaurre, acknowledging the 
honor done him by his election and mentioning that he had 



228 American Antiquarian Society 

forwarded to the Society certain books, the other, a letter from 
W. Vaughan, Esq're, of London, informing the Society that 
Dr. Drummond in behalf of the Society of Antiquaries in 
Scotland, had presented a copy of its Transactions to this 
Society — were referred, on motion of Lieut. Gov. Winthrop, 
to a committee of two members; viz. Dr. Lowell and Mr. 
Bangs. The committee reported orally, by Dr. Lowell, that 
it is expedient to present a copy of the Society's volume to 
Senor Vidaurre, and to the Society of Antiquaries in Scot- 
land. 

The records of the last annual and semi-annual meetings 
were read. 

Dr. Bancroft, in behalf of N. Maccarty, Esq're, Treasurer, 
stated, that severe illness had prevented him from sending 
an account current; and that the same cause compelled him 
to ask that the place of Treasurer may be filled by another 
person. 

A report of the committee, Mr. Goodwin chairman, ap- 
pointed at the last annual meeting to consider of the means 
of publishing a second volume, of laying an annual assess- 
ment, of the terms of admission to the Society, and of limit- 
ing the number of its members, etc., was then read, together 
with two resolves of the Sub-Council at Worcester. The re- 
port was ordered to lie on the table ; ^ and the two resolves 
were adopted separately, in the words following; viz., 

^'Resolved, That the want of a Catalogue of the Library is 
deeply felt, and that each member of the Society be requeste'd 
to contribute at least two dollars to defray the expense of 
making and pubHshing such a Catalogue." ^ 

^^ Resolved, That the publishing committee be requested to 
examine the manuscripts, documents and other matter on 
hand in the library, and if in their judgment there is material 
which calls for publication, they be authorized to determine 
what and how much, and to issue proposals for publishing 
the same in such way as they shall deem most judicious." 

The above report was then taken up for consideration, 
and some difficulties being apprehended from the adoption, 
of the limit therein recommended for the number of members 

It was Voted, on motion of Dr. Lowell, That the Consti- 
tution of the Society be referred to a committee for revisal. 

* The report is not in the files. 

2 C. C. Baldwin says in his Diary under date Oct. 20, 1829, "Carry a sub- 
scription paper to Isaiah Thomas to raise funds for publisliing a Catalogue of 
Library of A. A. S., and he gives one hundred dollars." 



Meeting of October 2j, i82g 229 

Five being fixed upon as the number of the committee, the 
following gentlemen were elected, viz., Lieut. Gov. Winthrop, 
Dr. Lowell, Hon. Messrs. Bangs and Davis, and J. C. Merrill, 
Esq're. The committee was then enlarged to seven, and 
Messrs. Bowdoin and Newton added thereto. — The above 
report was then referred to said committee. 

The Report of the Librarian, C. C. Baldwin, Esq., was then 
read, accepted, and ordered to be printed under the direction 
and at the discretion of the Librarian. 

The Librarian was directed to mention at the close of his 
Report, that the store of Messrs. Stanton & Nichols was a 
place of deposit for any books, or articles intended for the 
Library or Cabinet. 

The officers of the Society for the year ensuing were then 
elected by general ticket, as follows, viz. 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev'd Aaron Bancroft, D.D. ) ,,. „ -j 

His Honor Thomas L. Winthrop. j Vtce-Prestdents. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Edward H. Robbins. His Excellency Levi Lincoln. 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. Hon. John Davis. 

Rev. Willl^i Jenks, D.D. Samuel M. Burnstoe, Esq're. 

Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. Isaac Goodwin, Esq're. 

James C. Merrill, Esq're. Samuel Jennison, Esq're. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq're, Recording Secretary. 

James Bowdoin, Esq're, Assist't Recording Secretary. 

Rev. Thad's Mason Harris, D.D., Corresponding Secretary. 

Willl\.m Lincoln, Esq're, Assist't Corresponding Secretary. 

Samuel Jennison, Esq're, Treasurer. 

Hon. Edward D. Bangs, Ass't Treasurer. 

C. C. Baldwin, Esq're, Librarian and Cabinet Keeper. 

Committee of Nominations 
Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
His Excellency Levi Lincoln. 
James C. Merrill, Esq're. 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 

Committee of Publication 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev. William Jenks, D.D. 
William Lincoln, Esq're. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq're. 

Voted, that the choice of Counsellors for other States, and 
any other business required to be done at the Annual Meet- 



230 American Antiquarian Society 

ing, that has been omitted, be referred to the Sub-Council at 
Worcester.^ 

Simon Bolivar, and Senor Manuel L. Vidaurre^ ha\'ing been 
duly nominated and six months having elapsed since their 
nomination, as required by the Rules of the Society, these 
gentlemen were unanimously elected members of the Society. 

The names of three candidates for admission to the 
Society were referred to the Committee of Nominations. 

The meeting was then adjourned sine die. 
Attest, 

James Bov^tdoin, AssH Rec^g Secretary. 



Librarian's Report^ 

The Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society begs 
leave respectfully to report that: 

The Library of the Society, since the last annual meeting, 
has received unusually large additions, compared with those 
of preceding years. The estimated value of donations, in 
books and tracts from various sources, exceeds the sum of 
five hundred dollars. The books presented are generally of a 
miscellaneous character, though some of them may be re- 
garded as rare and valuable from their peculiar adaptation to 
the objects and purposes of the Institution. 

The acknowledgments of the Society are due to the Society 
of Antiquaries of Scotland for a complete set of its publica- 
tions to the year of 1828; to the Philosophical Society of 
Philadelphia for the last number of its Transactions; to 
Stephen Salisbury, Esq., for a very large collection of news- 
papers, constituting almost perfect files of several of the most 
respectable and influential journals of the times, among which 
are the United States Gazette from 1802 to 1818, the New 
York Herald from 1803 to 18 18, the Washingtonian from 
1809 to 1 8 14. Besides these, there are files of the Boston 
Centinel, New England Palladium and Independent Chron- 
icle for a great number of years; also the Boston Gazette, 
Boston Daily Advertiser, Boston Commercial Gazette, Rep- 
ertory, Federal Republican, Massachusetts Spy, etc., etc. 

1 There is no record of such choice by the Sub-Council, which had no 
meeting until a year later. 

^ The election of Senor Vidaurre on June 25, 1829, seems to have been con- 
sidered illegal because six months had not elapsed since his nomination. 

* Reprinted from the National Aegis, Nov. 4, 1829. 



Meeting of October 2j, i82g 231 

The Society is largely indebted to its venerable president for 
upwards of one hundred volumes of miscellaneous works, be- 
sides many pamphlets, tracts and manuscripts; to the Rev. 
William B. Sprague, D.D., formerly of West Springfield and 
now of Albany, for a very valuable donation of between two 
and three hundred pamphlets, among which are about sixty 
of the Connecticut election sermons; there are also among 
them a great number of funeral sermons, highly valuable for 
the biographical information they contain; to the Rev. Wil- 
liam Buckland for his Inaugural Lecture before the Uni- 
versity of Oxford, and a copy of his Reliquae Diluvianae; to 
Jacob Porter for a donation in books, pamphlets and curi- 
osities; to the editors of the Boston Centinel for a file of that 
paper during the last year; also the editors of the New Eng- 
land Galaxy, Boston Weekly Messenger, New England 
Palladium, Rhode Island American, Northern Sentinel and 
Ohio Monitor for the same period ; to the Legislature of New 
Hampshire for a copy of its printed Laws and Documents 
during the year 1828, and to the Legislature of the State of 
Massachusetts for the same period. 

The thanks of the Society are due to a Hterary club which 
formerly existed in Worcester,^ for the donation of its Ubrary, 
consisting of between two and three hundred volumes of 
valuable books; these have been kindly added and are now 
placed upon the shelves of the library of the Society. Many 
small donations in books, pamphlets and manuscripts have 
been made during the year by various individuals, which have 
been received and properly acknowledged, to enumerate which 
would needlessly enlarge this report and for that reason are 
now omitted. 

The Cabinet of the Society has been enriched by many 
valuable donations since the last annual meeting. Many in- 
struments used by the Indians, either in the chase or war, 
and other curiosities connected with the early history of the 
country, have been received. Two casts have been presented 
by the President of the Society, and a large number of an- 
cient silver and copper coins. 

The Librarian cannot omit this opportunity to represent 
to the society the great necessity there is for a perfect cata- 
logue of its iDOoks and manuscripts, and the permanent em- 
ployment of some suitable person to take charge of them. 
The number of volumes now in the library exceeds eight 

* This was the Odd Fellows' Society. See Baldwin's Diary, p. 40. 



232 American Antiquarian Society 

thousand, and these are rendered almost useless from the 
fact that there are only two or three individuals who are 
acquainted with their arrangement or contents, and perhaps 
no one who can at all times find the book called for. 

It is beheved that the usefulness as well as the prosperity 
of the institution depends, in a great measure, upon the 
management of its library. The country abounds in pam- 
phlets, tracts, manuscripts, periodical pubhcations and the like, 
which are almost daily disappearing for the want of some one 
to seize and preserve them. These are all valuable as the 
materials of history, and it is believed to be one of the chief 
objects of the Society to place such articles in safe keeping. 
To do this should be a part of the duties of the Librarian. 
He should be required to traverse the country, from time to 
time, to gather such historical materials as the interests and 
purposes of the institution demand. And to enable him to 
discharge his duty with greatest acceptance to posterity, he 
should receive such compensation for his services as should 
permit him to devote his whole time and attention to the 
objects of the Society. 

Chris. C. Baldwin, 

Librarian oj A. A. S. 
Boston, Oct. 23, 1829. 

MEETING OF JUNE 29, 1830 

The American Antiquarian Society held their semi-annual 
meeting at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on Thursday, the 
29th day of June a.d., 1830. And after discussing various 
subjects and reading divers letters and papers, adjourned 
without day. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1830 

An annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Society 
was held at the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Satur- 
day the 23d day of October, 1830. The first Vice-President 
in the chair.^ 

^ According to the original minutes of the meeting, nine members were 
present, viz.: Rev. Dr. A. Bancroft, Lieut. Gov. Winthrop, Benj. Russell, Esqr., 
Ed. D. Bangs, Esqr., James C. Merrill, Esqr., Rev. Dr. Jenks, Rev. Dr. Lowell, 
J. Bowdoin and Wm. Lincoln, Esqrs. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jo 233 

The committee appointed at the last annual meeting to 
revise the Constitution of the Society and to consider the 
report signed I. Goodwin, on the subject of publishing a 
volume of the Transactions of the Society, not having acted 
upon the subject, the report, after being again read, was, 
with the whole subject, again referred to the same committee 
to report at the next meeting of the Society.^ 

A letter was read from Professor Ch. Christian Rafn, 
dated Copenhagen, 15th June, 1829, which was referred to 
the Corresponding Secretary and the Rev. Dr. Jenks, with 
directions to express the thanks of this Society to Professor 
Rafn for the volumes sent by him of his translation of the 
Scripta Historica Islandorum. 

Wilham Lincoln, Esq., after stating that the late Librarian, 
Mr. Baldwin, had removed from the town of Worcester, read 
a Report on the state of the Library, the donations made to 
it during the year, etc. The Report was accepted and it was 

^ The following letters contain all the information that has been found 
concerning this report. 

Dear Sir: — 

At a late meeting of the Worcester Counsellors of the Antiq. 
Socy, the subject of procuring to be made and pubhshed a catalogue of their 
books, &c., was duly brought before them and discussed according to ancient 
and immemorial usage. Whereupon it was remembered and brought to mind 
that certain contributions were heretofore made for that purpose; the amount 
whereof could not be ascertained, by reason that our learned and antiquate 
Brother Baldwin was now absent. Will you have the condescension to acquaint 
me (as the humble organ and instrument of said Council on this matter duly 
constituted and provided) of the amount of said contributions and voluntary 
levies aforenamed, and also where the same may be at this present time de- 
posited; and thereby greatly edify those who, although now resting in profound 
ignorance in regard to the premises, are nevertheless seekers of the light, of 
whom is he who now from his elbow chair in Antiq. Hall, this loth day 
Aug't, 1830, subscribes himself with considerable esteem, consideration, respect 
and cordiality yours to serve and command. 

Sam'l Jennison, 
C. C. Baldwin, Esq. C. P. T. 

[Endorsed "Aug. lo, 1830."] 

Barre, Aug. 18, 1830. 
My Dear Sir: 

Yours bearing date loth inst. reached me yesterday. The 
amount which I received for the purpose of publishing a catalogue, etc., was 
forty-nine dollars. The accompanying papers will afford you all the informa- 
tion I possess upon the subject. I wiU hand you the amount of subscriptions 
when I see you at Court, which will be in a few days. 

Pray give my love to Newcomb and remember me to your family, and accept 
the respects of 

• Your friend, 

Chris. C. Baldwin. 



234 American Antiquarian Society 

voted to be published in the Newspapers, at the discretion of 
Mr. Lincohi.^ 

The annual Report of the Treasurer, Mr. Jennison was 
read, by which it appears that the receipts during the year 
have been $72.78 and the payments $17.35 and that the 
balance in his hands is $55.43. The vouchers being at 
Worcester, Messrs. W. Lincoln and S. M. Burnside, nomi- 
nated by the chair, were appointed to audit the accounts 
and report thereon at the next meeting. 

Voted, That the Recording Secretary be requested to 
furnish the Assistant Recording Secretary with an alpha- 
betical Kst of all the members of the Society. 

Certain letters from Leipzig were referred to the Correspond- 
ing Secretary to answer, and to furnish the Society with the 
translations of the letters. 

The following is a hst of officers elected for the present 
year. 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., President. 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., ist Vice-President. 

His Honor Thos. L. Winthrop, 2d Vice-President. 

Counsellors 
Hon. Benjamin Russell. Hon. John Davis, Esq. 

Rev. William Jenks, D.D. Isaac Goodwin, Esq. 

Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. Jai^ies C. Merrill, Esq. 

His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 

Recording Secretary, Rejoice Newton, Esq., Worcester. 

Assistant Rec'g Sec'y, James Bowdoin, Esq., Boston. 

Corresponding Sec'ys, jRev. Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D., Dorchester. 

I William Lincoln, Esq., Worcester. 
Treasurer, Samuel Jennison, Esq., Worcester. 
Ass't Treasurer, Edward D. Bangs, Esq., Boston. 
Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, Sam'l M. Burnside.^ 

Committee of Publication 

Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev. Wm. Jenks, D.D. 
Saml. M. Burnside, Esq. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 
Wm. Lincoln, Esq. 

1 The report is missing from the files but an unfinished draft of the report 
has been found among Mr. Lincoln's papers and is printed after the records of 
this meeting. It has not been found printed in any newspaper in the Society's 
possession. 

2 Mr. Baldwin removed to Barre, Mass., in May, 1830, and resigned his 
office of librarian. On his return to Worcester in 1831, he was immediately 
re-elected librarian and assumed the oflice April ist., 1832. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jo 235 

Committee of Nomination 

Isaiah Thomas, LL.D. 
His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 
Rev. a. Bancroft, D.D. 
Rev. Ch's. Lowell, D.D. 
James C. Merrill, Esq. 
Rev. Mr. Parkman. 

The Counsellors from Boston were then empowered to 
fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. Edward 
H. Robbins. And [the] volume of Records being accidentally 
absent at Worcester, the Counsellors at Worcester were also 
empowered to elect any other officers that may have been 
omitted at this meeting.^ 

An extract of a letter from Mr. Bowring the Poet, London, 
contained in a letter from Doct. Porter of Plainfield, was 
read and referred to the Ass't Rec'g Secretary to acknowledge 
the receipt of the letter and books. 

The meeting was then adjourned v^dthout day. 
Attest, 

James Bovtooin, Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

A true entry of the proceedings as furnished by James 
Bowdoin, Ass't Rec'g Sec'y. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 

* Mr. Bowdoin in transmitting his minutes of tlie meeting to Mr. Newton 
wrote the following letter: 

Boston, 25 Oct., 1830. 
Rejoice Newton, Esq. 
Dear Sir: 

I send you a sufficient quantity of Record; and wish it had been in 
my power to say as much for its quality. My excuse is haste, that by avaihng 
myself of the present opportunity I may shift the responsibility from my own 
shoulders to yours. 

There was a slight disposition to grumble at the absence of your volume of 
Records, answering in the main perhaps from the earnest desire of relieving 
ourselves from pain of doing nothing, by showing that nothing had been here- 
tofore done. Our difficulty did occur, however, in electing officers which was 
done by the aid of the Register' of 1830 in w'ch no committee of nominations is 
given — hence the name of worthy Mr. Parkman is unintentionally foistered 
in, and if you should find that said committee by Statute consists of 5 members 
only, had you not better foister it out again, so softly as not to sour [?] the nose 
of anybody. 

I do not know, that we have made any omission of moment. 

Pray tell me does the title Ass't belong to Mr. Lincoln and myself. Some- 
one told me it did not, but I adhered to precedent. 

I have written upon execrable paper with a worse pen and I cannot in con- 
science condemn you longer to their joint offspring and hence inscribe myself 
in haste (peccante) 

Yr friend and ob't serv't, 
Jas. Bowdoin. 



236 American Antiquarian Society 

Report of the Committee on the Library 

The Committee appointed by the Council of the American 
Antiquarian Society to examine the state of the Library re- 
spectfully report: 

That, although, in the period which has intervened since 
the last report of the Librarian, all the members have not 
availed themselves of their constitutional privilege of col- 
lecting all those objects which illustrate the antiquities of the 
country, and furnishing them to the Society, unless where 
the owner has insisted on exercising his prior right of presen- 
tation; yet the increase of the common estate of books and 
rare articles held by us in trust for the use of the pubhc, has 
not been inconsiderable. The obHgations of the Society to 
the unfaiKng liberahty of the President, have been enhanced 
by the donation during the past year, of books and tracts ex- 
ceeding the estimated value in money of one hundred and 
forty dollars, and many of them quite priceless to the anti- 
quarian. Some of the members have not been unmindful of 
their ability to aid materially in the promotion of those 
purposes, which, if fully accompHshed, would transmit the 
literature, learning, arts and virtues of the present age im- 
changed to future ages, for imitation wherein they were 
worthy, or for warning wherein they were erroneous. The 
Hon. John Davis has placed on the shelves, maps, tracts, 
pubUc documents, and other materials for history. Dr. 
John Green has presented a new testament in Greek and 
Latin, of the edition of Basel 1558, which was before wanting 
in the very rich collections of the scriptures, in many editions, 
languages, and translations which are already gathered to- 
gether. James Swords, Esq., of New York, has transmitted 
many volumes of religious and literary periodicals and occa- 
sional tracts. Professor Benjamin Silliman has completed 
to the present time [that] work so worthy of [him], the series 
of the nos. of the American Journal of Science; Dr. Jacob 
Porter of Plainfield has with singular diligence gathered up 
the smaller works of the "age of print," and with his usual 
liberality transmitted them in quarterly bundles to the 
Library. Mr. Baldwin, the late Ubrarian, has also added 
many of the hghter publications of the day.^ 

* Mr. Lincoln's modesty prevented his noticing the fact that he himself gave 
several hundred books and over eighteen hundred pamphlets to the Society 
this year. A catalogue of all of these in Mr. Baldwin's handwriting is preserved 
in the Library. 



Meeting of October 23, i8jo 237 

The portrait of the earhest and worthiest of the Governors 
of Massachusetts, the venerable John Winthrop, whose 
memory is more cherished and grows greener and brighter 
as the pen of the antiquarian more illustrates his good works; 
which was devised by the will of the late WilHam Winthrop, 
Esq., of Cambridge, has been received and placed with the 
other memorials of the great and good.^ 

The Rev. Andrew Bigelow has presented several ancient 
vessels of earthen [ware], specimens of Peruvian skill in ancient 
days. They are all ingeniously made, ornamented with fanci- 
ful devices, and, from their pecuHar fashion indicating that 
they were intended to contain Hquors, would show that the art 
of drinking had been an ancient [rest of sentence wanting]. 

The Kberahty of persons not connected with the Society 
by the duties of membership, has been experienced. Among 
the authors who have placed copies of their books where they 
will be safely preserved from that waste and decay to which 
the works of genius are subject in their circulation, the Rev'd 
George R. Noyes has furnished his amended version of the 
book of Job; Mr. George Folsom, his diligent and faithful 
history of the towns of Saco and Biddeford, embracing a view 
of the antiquities of Maine and its early settlement, remark- 
able for its deep research and accuracy of detail. 

The generosity of publishers has been less free than form- 
erly. When we consider the value of the sheets daily sent 
from the press, containing the record of passing events and 
exhibiting the variety and extent of supply for the wants of 
society, transmitting the faithful picture of the present to 
the future, it is matter of deep regret, that the proprietors of 
newspapers have not deposited copies of their periodicals with 
the Society, to remain for the use of coming time. Messrs. 
Moore & Sevey are almost the only newspaper printers whose 
works have been freely given. 

Literary and scientific associations have promoted the 
objects of the Society by the presentation of their pubhca- 
tions. The New York State Society for the Promotion of 
Useful Arts have given four volumes of the transactions of 
the Albany Society of Arts; the New York Lyceum of Natural 

^ The portrait of Governor Winthrop, one of the most valued in the Society's 
possession, was, according to family tradition, painted by Vandyke. The 
Society has two other likenesses of Winthrop, one a miniature in an antique 
silver locket, and the other an early copy in red crayon of the portrait in the 
Massachusetts Senate Chamber. An article upon the Winthrop portraits, writ- 
ten by S. F. Haven, was published in the Boston Courier of Sept. 15, 1846. 



238 American Antiquarian Society 

History their annals during 1827 and 8. The Medical So- 
ciety of the same State, the doings of their association. 

The numerous hterary and scientific accociations and 
bodies in our own Commonwealth and its metropoHs, have 
as yet deferred the donation of their annual reports, addresses 
and other papers, probably with the intention of increasing 
its value by adding those of the ensuing year to a present 
they cannot intend to withold. 

Mr. John L. Boylston has enriched the cabinet with original 
and autograph letters of Lafayette, and the Hbrary by a very 
rare and large declaration concerning the late tumults in 
Scotland from their first originals, together with a particular 
deduction of the seditious practices of the prime leaders of 
the Convenanters, published in London in 1639 and at- 
tributed to royal authorship (Charles I). 

Mr. W. W. Seaton of Washington City has presented an 
entire series of Journals of the Senate of the United States 
from 1789 to its last session. 

The liberality of Congress has long since given to the 
Society the whole mass of national laws and documents, by a 
resolve whose continued operation furnishes the manufactures 
of the successive sessions of Congress. A later appropriation 
of a copy of the secret journals and diplomatic correspond- 
ence of the Revolution has been made to the use of the Society. 

The Legislature of Vermont has by a resolve furnished 
copies of its laws; similar resolves of other States have 
afforded the records of legislative assembhes; and from those 
who have not already made such grant, the request has been 
solicited by letters addressed in the name of the Society to 
the executive officers; so that the halls of the Antiquarian 
Society may present to the student of history or jurisprudence 
a complete view of the legislation of each of the governments 
of the union. 

The change of residence by Mr. Baldwin, which deprived 
the Society of Lis services as Librarian, has in some measure 
restricted the access of the public to the collection during 
the past year; but care has been taken to preserve the ma- 
terial collected so that nothing shall perish which the liber- 
ality of individuals has deposited for the common use. 

[William Lincoln] 



Meeting of June jo, i8ji 239 



MEETING OF JUNE 30, 183 1. 

A semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety was held at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Thurs- 
day, the thirtieth day of June, a.d., 1S31, at 3 o'clock p.m. 

A committee (Frederick W. Paine, Isaac Goodwin and Re- 
joice Newton) appointed by the Sub-Council to consider and 
report on the subject of erecting a fire-proof wing or wings to 
Antiquarian Hall under the provisions of the will of the late 
Dr. Thomas ^ made report, which was read, and which is as 
follows : 

"The Committee appointed by the Council of the Anti- 
quarian Society to take the subject of erecting wings, in ad- 
dition to the present building and other necessary work to be 
done on it, into consideration, offer the following Report — 

"They have consulted the executors of the will of the late 
Mr. Thomas and the letters which accompany this report 
will give the views of those gentlemen respecting the terms 
on which they will pay over to the Society the legacy of 
their late President, given for the purpose of erecting wings 
to the building. 

"Your committee are of opinion, that even now, further 
accommodation is wanted; and when the Society are in 
possession of the full amount of Mr. Thomas' donations, the 
necessity will increase every year, as we may reasonably 
expect to receive many small gifts of books and other arti- 
cles, now the Library can be made use of. The Society will 
also, we trust, be enabled to make purchases. 

"Your committee therefore recommend the erection of 
two wings as soon as may be convenient. Each wing to be 
twenty-five feet long and twenty deep, two stories high and 
covered with slate or zinc. One of the wings to have the 
floors covered with stone or brick and to communicate with 
the main building by means of an iron door. The expense 
will not exceed, we think, $1200. 

"Your committee would suggest the propriety of paint- 
ing the main building where it is wood, the expense of which 
they estimate at less than $35, including the cupola, which 
latter, however, your committee consider neither useful nor 
ornamental, but on the contrary, as defacing the building, 

^ Dr. Thomas died April 4, 1831. 



240 American Antiquarian Society 

and being difficult to render tight, and they therefore would 
suggest the propriety of taking it away. 

"I. G., however, objects to that part of the report which 
recommends removing the cupola." 

Voted, That said Report be accepted. 

Voted, That this Society gratefully accept the legacy of 
the late Dr. Thomas of $1000, given for the purpose of and 
on condition, that the Society erect a fire-proof wing, or 
wings, to Antiquarian Hall — and that the subject be re- 
ferred to the Sub-Council in Worcester for execution. 

Voted, That the Sub-Council in Worcester be authorized to 
make such repairs on Antiquarian Hall as they may think 
proper. 

The committee (John Davis, Samuel Jennison and Samuel 
M. Burnside, Esqs.) appointed by the Council to report at 
this meeting of the Society such resolutions as they might 
deem it expedient to pass in relation to the bequests of the 
late Dr. Thomas, made the following Report, to wit 

"The Comndttee appointed by the Council to report to 
this meeting of the Society such resolutions as they might 
deem expedient in relation to the bequests of the late Mr. 
Thomas submit the following for consideration : 

"Whereas, since the last annual meeting, the Society has 
been called on to deplore their loss by the death of their 
venerable President — And whereas he was the founder and 
the most distinguished benefactor of this institution; having 
bestowed upon it the beautiful real estate which he had ap- 
propriated to its use in his Hfetime, and also a large and 
valuable Hbrary, together with a fund for the support of a 
Hbrarian and for other purposes, the whole of which may be 
estimated at forty thousand dollars. And whereas the So- 
ciety is penetrated with the bereavement it has sustained in 
the death of its most benevolent patron, and with the obHga- 
tion due from it and the public to him, who has, with singular 
Hberality, endowed an institution which promises great 
future usefulness — Therefore 

"Resolved, That in his lifetime he was entitled to the grati- 
tude of the pubKc for his laborious exertions in antiquarian 
research, that by his death this institution has lost a bene- 
factor who imparted to it vigor and prosperity by his dis- 
tinguished munificence, 

"Resolved, That this Society accept with thankfulness the 



Meeting of June jo, 1831 241 

devise and bequests of the late President made to them in 
and by his last will and testament. 

"Resolved, That the Sub-CounciP at Worcester be re- 
quested to cause a biography of the late President to be pre- 
pared for insertion in the next volume of transactions or for 
earlier publication if they deem it expedient. 

"Resolved, That the Sub-Council at Worcester be author- 
ized to place in the Library some suitable memorial of the 
late President." 

The committee recommended the adoption of the follow- 
ing resolves: 

Resolved, That the seventh article of the By-Laws be so 
far modified that the Sub-Council at Worcester may cause 
deeds and other instruments to be executed in such manner 
and by such persons as they shall direct. 

Resolved, That the Sub-Council at Worcester have power 
and authority to make such arrangements as to the care and 
superintendence of the Library as they shall think most for 
the interest of the Society.^ 

Which said several resolves were put separately and were 
severally adopted and the whole Report was then accepted. 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to revise and re- 
port to the Council amendments of the Laws and By-Laws 
of the Society. Chose Samuel M. Burnside and John Davis, 
Esqs. 

Voted, That the Society approve of the doings of the Sub- 
Council at Worcester, in receiving and putting into the hands 
of the Treasurer, the legacy of twelve thousand dollars given 
by the will of the late Dr. Thomas. 

Voted, That the Sub-Council at Worcester be authorized 
and requested to receive any further or other moneys or 
property to which the Society may be entitled under and by 
virtue of the will of the late Dr. Thomas and to place such 
money in the hands of the Treasurer. 

Voted, That the Sub-Council at Worcester be authorized to 
make such compensation to the Treasurer for his services as 
they may think proper. 

* After October, 1830, the "Sub-Council at Worcester" is called the Council 
in the records of that body, although it was not until the following year that 
the two Sub-Councils were abolished by the adoption of new Laws. 

^ July 2, 1 83 1, the Sub-Council placed Mr. Isaac Goodwin in charge of the 
library and cabinet at a "reasonable compensation," but he did not have the 
title or hold the ofSce of librarian, which belonged to Mr. Burnside. 



242 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the ist Vice-President and Recording Secre- 
tary be directed to pubHsh, under their signatures, in the 
newspapers printed in Worcester, such parts of the resolu- 
tions introduced by the Hon. John Daxds as they may think 
proper. 

Voted, That the Sub-Council at Worcester be authorized to 
draw upon the Treasurer for such expenses incurred in the 
care and superintendence of the Library between this time 
and the 20th of October next as they may think proper, not 
to exceed the sum of two hundred dollars. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec^y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, 1831 

An annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Society 
was held at the Exchange Coffee House, in Boston, on Mon- 
day, 24th October, 183 1, the ist Vice-President in the Chair.^ 

The annual account of Samuel Jennison, Esq're, Treasurer, 
showing an expenditure of $22.61 and a balance in his hands 
of $32.82, was committed to Messrs. E. Everett and E. T. 
Andrews; and it being ascertained that the vouchers were in 
Worcester, it was again committed to Messrs. Davis and 
Goodwin of Worcester, to audit and report to the Council. 

The Report of the Librarian, S. M. Burnside, Esq're, was 
read and accepted. 

A Report of the Committee, (Messrs. Davis, Burnside and 
Jennison) appointed by the Council at Worcester on the be- 
quest of the late President was read and accepted and ordered 
to be recorded, as follows, viz., 

"The committee of the Council appointed by a vote at a 
legal meeting for the purpose of receiving any legacies given 
to the American Antiquarian Society by the late President 
Thomas, and for other purposes as in said vote is specified, 

* The following were present: — Rev. Aaron Bancroft, His Excellency Levi 
Lincoln, His Hon. Lieut. Gov. Thomas L. Winthrop, Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., 
Rev. Charles Lowell, Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, Rev. Wm. Jenks, Hon. Ben- 
jamin Russell, Hon. James C. Merrill, Hon. John Davis, of Worcester, James 
Bowdoin, Esq., Joseph Willard, Esq., of Boston, William Lincoln, Isaac Good- 
win, Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., Pliny Merrick, Esq., of Worcester, Hon. Ed- 
ward D. Bangs and Mr. Ebenezer T. Andrews of Boston, Edward Everett and 
Rev. Dr. Parkman of Boston. The meeting was adjourned from five to seven 
o'clock and in the interim the members dined with His Honor Lieut. Gov. 
Winthrop. (Diary of C. C. Baldwin, p. 146.) 



Meeting of October 24, i8ji 243 

"Report: 

That soon after their appointment, they called on 
the executors, who expressed a wish to advance to the Society 
the legacy of $12,000 mentioned in the will, but payable in 
one year from the death of the testator, if we would discount 
the legal interest, to which we assented and received of them 
in bonds, and notes secured by mortgage and in notes with 
some cash, a sum which with the interest that will grow due 
thereon, will at the end of the year from the death of the 
testator amount to $12,000, and gave our receipt for the same 
— which property we dehvered to the Treasurer, and con- 
sider it well invested. Thus far our doings have been ap- 
proved by a vote of the Council. We have also given the 
executors our receipt by which we acknowledge that the 
books deposited in the Library are of the value of $10,000, 
and consequently that that part of the legacy is fully satis- 
fied. This we did on the ground that Mr. Thomas had esti- 
mated, as we were informed, the books at a sum considerably 
greater than $10,000. The executors some weeks since made 
known to us, that they had divided into four parts, accord- 
ing to the conditions of the will, a considerable part of the 
residuum, and desired us to draw our portion in the manner 
provided for, and we accordingly did draw the lot numbered 
one, which consists of bonds, notes and bank stock con- 
sidered good, to the amount of $5,600, doubtful or bad to 
the amount of $327.23, books estimated at $2,209.23, sheet 
stock, mostly the Bible, estimated at $4,704.38 — making in 
all the sum of $12,840.84. We immediately made assign- 
ments of the mortgages and other property above named for 
the executors to execute, but one was and ever since has been 
absent, so that we have not taken the delivery of this be- 
quest, but shall as soon as the absent executor returns. We 
have also received the pictures and prints bequeathed to us 
and left in the mansion of the testator and have deposited 
the same in the library. We are also informed that con- 
siderable property in lands and debts connected with them 
yet remain to be divided and distributed for which the ex- 
ecutors are not as yet fully prepared. We were authorized 
by the vote of the Council to dispose of the books and sheet 
stock, but have not as yet made sale of any part of it. We 
have not examined this property, but fear that the Society 
must part with it at prices much below the estimates of the 
testator — All which we respectfully submit. 

(Signed) John Davis, per order." 
Oct. 14, 1831. 



244 American Antiquarian Society 

The report of the Building Committee on the erection of 
wings to the Library-house (Gov'r Lincoln and F. W. Paine, 
Esq're, Committee) was read.^ 

An extract from the will of the late Treasurer, Nath'l 
Maccarty, Esq're, containing a bequest of $500, the interest 
of which is given to the Society so long as its Library con- 
tinues in the Town of Worcester, was also read; but the will 
not having been yet approved, no action was had thereon. 

A report of the committee (I. Goodwin and W. Lincoln, 
Esq'res) to prepare a list of members — containing the 
names of 103 American members, 30 foreign, and 150 de- 
ceased — was read ; and after some remarks on the great 
number excluded for not complying with the rules of the 
Society as regards assessments, etc., was accepted.^ 

The report of a committee (I. Goodwin and W. Lincoln 
Esq'res) on the revision of the By-laws and constitution of the 
Society was taken up, and after being discussed and amended, 
paragraph by paragraph, was adopted in the words following, 
to wit — 

Laws of the American Antiquarian Society, 
24 Oct., 183 1 

Article i. Officers 

A President, Two Vice-Presidents, Recording Secretary, a 
Secretary for Foreign and a Secretary for Domestic Cor- 
respondence and Treasurer, who shall be members, ex officio, 
of the Council, and ten Counsellors, and also a Committee of 
Publication, shall be elected at the annual meeting in October, 
to hold their offices during a year, and until successors shall 
be elected. 

Article 2. President and Vice-Presidents 

The President shall preside in the meetings of the Society 
and Council, and see that the duties of the several officers are 
faithfully performed, and the laws executed. 

In the absence of the President, the Vice-Presidents shall 
perform his duties. 

1 Printed wath the reports of the Treasurer and Librarian after the records 
of the meeting, all being from the files of the Society and not recorded. 
' This report has not been found. 



Meeting of October 24, i8ji 245 

Article 3. Secretaries 

The Recording Secretary shall keep a fair Record of all the 
doings of the Society and Council, to be deposited, when not 
in use, with all papers of his department in the building of 
the Society. He shall give notice of each stated meeting of 
the Society by publishing the same in such newspapers in 
Boston and Worcester as the Council shall direct. But 
neglect to give such notice shall not prevent a stated meet- 
ing, or annul its proceedings. 

All letters received and copies of those written by the Cor- 
responding Secretaries, shall be preserved and communicated 
by them to the Society. 

Article 4. Treasurer 

The Treasurer shall receive and keep the funds of the 
Society and all Books and Papers relating thereto, and shall 
manage and invest the funds under the direction of the 
Council. He shall keep accurate accounts of the same and 
of all receipts and payments, subject at all times to the in- 
spection of the officers, and shall present a copy thereof to 
the Council at their meetings next previous to the stated 
meetings of the Society. 

He shall give sufficient bonds for the faithful performance 
of the duties of his office and shall receive such compensation 
as the Council shall fix. 

Article 5. Of the Council 

The Council shall hold stated meetings, in Worcester, on 
the last Wednesdays of October, January, April and July, at 
7 o'clock P.M. Special meetings may be called by the Secre- 
tary under the direction of the President, or a Vice-President, 
upon written notice to each Member. 

At a Special Meeting a majority of the whole board shall 
constitute a Quorum; but at the stated meetings five Mem- 
bers only shall be necessary for that purpose. 

The Council shall have the ^ superintendence of all the 
property and concerns of the Society; and may take, release 
or transfer securities for any portion of the funds. 

They may make disbursements for the current expenses 

* The word "general" is inserted before "superintendence" in the By-Laws 
as printed. 



246 American Antiquarian Society 

and other objects of the Society to an amount not exceeding 
the annual income. 

Twice, at least, in every year they shall carefully examine 
the Library, Cabinet and other property, and make report 
to the Society of the state of the funds, and amount of the 
investment. 

They may appoint a Librarian and such other subordinate 
officers and agents as they may judge necessary, allow to 
them reasonable compensation and prescribe such duties to 
them as they shall think proper, not inconsistent with the 
laws of the Society. 

They shall at each Stated Meeting of the Society make a 
report of all their doings, which shall then be subject to the 
control of the Society. 

Article 6. Meetings 

Two stated Meetings of the Society shall be held in each 
year, one at in Worcester on the 23d. 

day of October, and when the same falls on Sunday the meet- 
ing shall be on the Monday following; and one at 
in Boston, on the last Wednesday of May. 

Special Meetings of the Society may be called by the Sec- 
retary under the direction of a President, or Vice-President, 
upon notice published in the Newspapers. 

The Society shall not at any meeting proceed to business 
unless five at least of the Council shall be present, but the 
Secretary may adjourn from time to time until such quorum 
shall attend. 

At each stated meeting the Secretaries and Council shall 
report their respective doings since the last meeting. 

Article 7. Members 

The American Members of the Society shall at no time 
exceed one hundred and forty. No person shall be admitted 
a Member, unless he shall have been nominated one month 
in the Council, and be recommended afterwards by that 
board. Nor shall any member be admitted unless at a stated 
meeting of the Society, and three fourths of the ballots of the 
Members present are in his favor. 

Article 8. Of the Library and Librarian 

A Librarian and Cabinet Keeper shall be annually ap- 
pointed by the Council, to be subject to their direction, and 
removable by them for misconduct. 



Meeting of October 24, 18 31 247 

He shall give sufficient Bonds for the faithful performance 
of his duties. 

No book or article shall be removed from its place without 
the consent of the Librarian, or direction of the Council. 

Visitors may be admitted on the personal introduction, or 
on producing a ticket of a Member of the Society. 

No visitor shall remain in the Library or Cabinet Rooms, 
without permission of the Council except in the presence of 
the Librarian or an Officer of the Society.^ 

Article 9. Amendments 

No new law or alteration of a standing law shall hereafter 
be made, until recommended by the Council and adopted by 
the Society at a stated Meeting. 

^ In the laws as printed the last four paragraphs of Article 8 do not appear 
in that place, but are printed among the rules for the Librarian and Cabinet 
Keeper which were as follows : — 

The Librarian and Cabinet ELeeper 

Shall give bonds for the faithful discharge of his duties. He shall have the 
care of the Library and Cabinet, paying particular attention to security from 
fire, and shall be accountable for any loss or injury happening from his negU- 
gence. 

He shall register from time to time every book and article purchased or pre- 
sented, with the donner's name, when given, the value when it can be ascer- 
tained, and a brief description. 

He shall number and mark each volume with the name of the Society, and 
donor, when presented, and attach to each article in the Cabinet an appropri- 
ate label. 

He shall arrange the Books, Tracts, Newspapers and manuscripts of the 
Society, and the articles of the Cabinet in scientific method, and keep the 
rooms in neat and good order. 

He shall prepare as soon as practicable, and keep in the Library Room, an 
accurate descriptive catalogue of the whole Library and Cabinet; deliver a copy 
to the Treasurer — enter all additions as they are made, on the Catalogue, and 
annually on the Copy; and make report thereof at each stated meeting of the 
Council. On the Catalogue and Copy there shall be a distinct reference to the 
apartment and case containing the several Books and Tracts therein described. 

He shall afford such assistance to the Secretaries, and such information to 
other members of the Society, when requested, under the restrictions which the 
Council may prescribe, as can be rendered without interference with his other 
duties. 

He shall attend at the Library Room from 9 to 12 o'clock, a.m., and from 
2 to 5 o'clock, p. M., on all days in the week, Sundays and the afternoon of 
Saturday excepted, for the accommodation of members, and the reception of 
visitors. 

He shall cause the names of visitors to be entered in a Book, and exhibit the 
same at each stated meeting of the Council. 

No book or article shall be removed from its place, without the consent of 
the Librarian, or direction of the Council. 

Visitors may be admitted on the personal introduction, or on producing a 
ticket of a member of the Sjciety. 

No visitor shall remain in the Library or Cabinet Rooms, without permission 
of the Council, except in the presence of the Librarian, or an officer of the 
Society. 



248 American Antiquarian Society 

Article 10 

All former laws and votes of the Society are so far repealed 
as they may be inconsistent with the foregoing laws. 



The Secretary was directed to have the foregoing Laws 
printed, and each member of the Society furnished wdth a 
copy.^ 

The meeting was then adjourned to six o'clock p.m. 

Afternoon, 6 p.m., 24 Oct., 1831 

The following gentlemen were duly elected, by ballot, 
members of the Society, viz. 

Lemuel Shattuck, Esq're, Concord, Mass. 
Dr. John Park, Worcester, Mass. 
Rev'd Alonzo Hill, Worcester, Mass. 
George Folsom, Esq're, Worcester, Mass. 
ISAL^H Thomas, Esq're, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Alfred D. Foster, Esq're, Worcester, Mass. 

The Rev. Dr. Bancroft, ist Vice-President, after express- 
ing his thanks to the Society for former civiHties, and his 
regret that age required him to leave pubHc duties, declined 
all future election to office. 

On motion of Lieut. Gov. Winthrop, the thanks of the 
Society were voted to the Rev. Dr. Bancroft for his great at- 
tention and assiduity in performing the duties and furthering 
the objects of the Society. 

The Society was then organized, under the new Laws, by 
the election (by ballot) of the following gentlemen, as officers 
for the year ensuing, viz. 

His Honor, Thomas L. Winthrop, President. Hon. John 
Davis of Worcester (His Exc'y Gov. Lincoln having been 
elected and decHned accepting the office), and the Hon. 
Joseph Story, Vice-Presidents. 

Counsellors 

1. Hon. Benjamin Russell. 

2. His Exc'y Levi Lincoln. 

3. James Bowdoin, Esq're. 

* The Council on Aug. 27, 1832, voted that "the Librarian be directed to 
cause one hundred copies of the By-laws of the Society to be pubhshed." They 
were printed in a small pamphlet of seven pages, being the lirst publication of 
the Society since 1821. The laws have remained substantially the same ever 
since. 



Meeting of October 24, i8ji 249 

4. Hon. Edward D. Bangs. 

5. Hon. James C. Merrill. 
^ 6. Isaac Goodwin, Esq're. 

^ 7. Rev'd Charles Lowell, D.D. 

8. Samuel M. Burnside, Esq're. 

9. Frederick W. Paine, Esq're. 
10. Doctor John Green. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq're, Recording Secretary. 
Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, D. D., 

Foreign Corresponding Secretary. 
William Lincoln, Esq're, Domestic Corresponding Secretary. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq're, Treasurer. 
Rev'd William Jenks, D.D. ^ Committee 
William Lincoln, Esq're. > of 

Joseph Willard, Esq're. ' Publication. 

The Secretary was directed to notify the Hon. Judge Story, 
and other gentlemen, not present, of their election to ofl&ce in 
the Society. 
The meeting was then adjourned without day. 
Attest, 

James Bowdoin, Assist. Record' g Secretary. 



Treasurer's Report 

Samuel Jennison, Treas., in accH with the American Anti- 
quarian Society. 

Dr. 

1830 

Oct. 23. To balance on settlement of former acc't $55-43 

Cr. 
1830 
Nov. 6. By cash paid for the use of a room for the 

annual meeting of the Society $3 . 00 

Dec. Cash pd A. Merrifield carpenter for repairs . . 3 . 23 

183 1 

Jan. Cash pd for postage .76 

Cash pd for Dorr & Howland's bill for paper 

furnished the Librarian 6 . 00 

April Cash pd for postage i .07 

Cash pd A. Merrifield, pr. ord i .00 

July Cash pd for postage .42 

Aug. Cash pd for 33 No. Edinb. Encyclopedia. ... 4.00 
Sept. Cash pd Hudson & Goodwin for advertising . . 2.25 
Oct. Cash pd for postage .88 

Balance in the hands of the Treas 32 . 82 $55 .43 

Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 
Oct. 20, 183 1. 



250 American Antiquarian Society 

Boston, 24 Oct., 1831. The committee appointed to audit the above 
account have attended to that duty, and find it rightly cast. 

E. Everett, 

for the Committee. 



Librarian's Report 

The Librarian reports, that in consequence of the confused 
state of the Library and cabinet rooms, while undergoing re- 
pairs, it has not been thought expedient to vary the former 
order of their contents. The Library and cabinet have there- 
fore remained in the same situation as at the last annual 
meeting. 

Among the various books and articles received into the 
Library and cabinet are two valuable half volumes of the 
Archaeologia Scotica, a donation from the Antiquarian So- 
ciety of Scotland; also a large number of valuable volumes 
from Congress, containing the Journals of that body, public 
documents, speeches, and diplomatic correspondence in 13 
volumes. A large number of volumes were likewise added to 
the Library by our late venerated president, all of which have 
not yet been arranged nor entered upon the Donation Book. 

The Society rooms have been open daily during the season 
for the accommodation of members and visitors under the 
direction of members of the Council. 

Oct. 24, 183I. S. M. BURNSIDE. 

Report of the Building Committee 

The Committee appointed to superintend the erection of 
the two wings to the Antiquarian Hall beg to offer the fol- 
lowing report to the Society. 

The Committee were not aware until a late hour that any 
report on the subject would be expected from them and they 
would pray for the indulgence of the Society on that account. 

The Committee will briefly state the condition of the will 
of their munificent President, by complying mth which they 
obtain a legacy of $1000, payable when the object of that be- 
quest is efiFected. The conditions are that a fire-proof wing 
or wings shall be erected in addition to the present house. It 
is unnecessary to state the reasons which induced the Society 
to order their erection. Upon application to the executors of 
the late President it was ascertained that the money would 



Meeting of October 24, i8ji 251 

be paid over provided the proposed wings were covered with 
slate or zinc, that the floors of one wing were covered with 
brick or tile and finally that the communication between the 
main building and the wing (of which the floors were to be 
of brick) should be by means of an iron door. In consequence 
of this understanding this Committee was appointed and 
directed to erect two wings. 

Your Committee, in pursuance of the object entrusted to 
them, have erected two wings each twenty-eight feet long 
and twenty-one feet wide, and two stories high. The rooms 
will finish about nine feet in the clear. It would have been 
desirable to have had the rooms higher but the building 
would have been disfigured if the roof of the wings had been 
so high as to have run onto the main roof ; nor could it have 
been so disconnected as to have been fire-proof within the 
intention of the executors, without adding very materially to 
the expense. The wings are both covered with zinc. The 
plastering and brick floors are not yet finished, but will be in a 
few days. The rooms of the north wing communicate with 
the main building, by a wooden door in each floor. The 
lower floor of the south wing has access to the main building 
by an iron door. The chamber of that wing has no com- 
munication with it. One outside door of the main build- 
ing will be closed up and there will be only one outside 
door in the south wing. Your Committee are aware a build- 
ing of the description of this south wing cannot be termed in 
strictness a fire-proof building, but they have every reason to 
believe it is more so than Mr. Thomas contemplated and it is 
in their opinion entirely fire-proof against all ordinary in- 
ternal accidents, while the location removes any danger which 
would arise from contiguous buildings being on fire. Against 
the incendiary or lightning, no building is fire-proof. Per- 
haps in prudence a lightning-rod should be placed on the 
main building, and it certainly would add much to the ap- 
pearance of the cupola if the Society would direct a vane to 
be placed on it. 

The Society will probably expect some account of the ex- 
pense of these wings, but owing to the cause before mentioned 
and to the building not being finished, it is out of their power 
at this time to make any correct statement. The first propo- 
sition was to have the wings 25 x 20, but your Committee 
under the power vested in them increased the dimensions to 
those before stated, and if they have anything to regret it is 



252 American Antiquarian Society 

not having made them still larger. It was supposed that 
$1200 would have been nearly sufficient for defraying the ex- 
pense. The enlargement of the size will of course add to that 
amount, and some work has been done which was not con- 
templated at first. Of some items no estimate could be 
formed, such as the expense of preparing and finishing the 
ground and altering the fences. If your Committee ventured 
to guess any sum, it would be about $1400. Your Com- 
mittee can only say that they have endeavored to be eco- 
nomical and they cannot think the Society will blame them 
for extravagance should the sum of $1400 be exceeded by a 
small amount. 
All which is respectfully submitted, 

By order of the Committee. 

F. W. Paine. 
Worcester, Oct'r 22, 1831. 
To the Vice-Presidents, 
Council and Members of 
the Antiquarian Society. 



MEETING OF MAY 30, 1832 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Wednesday, the 
30th day of May, a.d., 1832. 

His Honor Thomas L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 

The Secretary made his Report which is on file. 

The Treasurer made his Report which is on file, and by 
which it appears that the funds of the Society in his hands 
amount to the sum of $23,000. 

The Librarian made his Report which is on file.^ 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be presented to Mr. 
Baldwin, the Librarian, for his gratuitous services during the 
last winter.^ 

' The reports of the Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian are printed, at the 
end of these records, from the Society's files. 

* Christopher Columbus Baldwin was chosen librarian by the Council 
Nov. 25, 1831, at a salary of $600, his services and salary to commence April i, 
1832. The Council adopted rules requiring the hbrarian to be at the library 
from 9 o'clock to i from May i to Oct. i, and from 10 o'clock to i during the 
remainder of the year, and in the afternoon from 3 to 5 o'clock during the whole 
year, Sundays and Saturday afternoons excepted. Mr. Baldwin's letter of 
acceptance is as follows : — 



Meeting of May jo, 1832 253 

Voted, That the pubHshing committee be requested to 
prepare matter for pubHcation as soon as conveniently may 
be and the funds of the Society will permit. And that the 
Secretary be requested to furnish the chairman of that com- 
mittee with a copy of the foregoing vote. Then 

Adjourned. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec'y. 



Report of the Secretary 

The Secretary reports that since the last meeting of the 
Society, the Council have caused to be erected two wings to 
Antiquarian Hall. One of them is fire-proof, in conformity 
with the will of the late Doct. Thomas, and that they have 
received the additional sum of one thousand dollars which 
was bequeathed to the Society on the condition of their 
building such wing fire-proof. This sum has nearly sustained 
the expense of both wings. 

The Council have fixed the salary of the Librarian at 
$600, by the year, and have chosen Christopher C. Baldwin, 
Esq., Librarian, who entered on his official duties on the 
first day of April last. They have also prescribed rules and 
regulations for governing the Librarian so that the Hall will 
in future be open for the accommodation of members and 
others introduced by members of the Society, from 9 to i 
o'clock in the forenoon through the summer, and from 10 
to I through the winter, and from three to five in the after- 
noon through the year. 

The Council have also authorized the building of fences 
and finishing the grounds about the Hall, which work is now 
in operation. 

The foregoing are all the doings of the Council since the 
last meeting of the Society, which, in the opinion of the 
Secretary, would be interesting to the Society to be informed 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Sutton, Nov. 26, 1831. 

My dear Sir: — 

Your communication under date of 25th inst., informing me 
of my being elected Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, has been 
placed in my hands. I accept the appointment: — And I will endeavor by 
industry and fidelity in promoting the objects of the Society, to deserve the 
confidence of the Council. 

I am with very great respect and regard, 

Your friend, 

Chris. C. Baldwin. 



254 American Antiquarian Society 

of, except those which will be shown by the Reports of the 
Treasurer and Librarian. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Treasurer's Report 

Sami'l Jennison, treasurer, in accH with the American 

Anliq. Soc'y. 
Dr. 
1832 On acc't of I. Thomas's legacy of $12,000.00. 

Oct. 22. To cash on hand $148 . 60 

Nov. 20. To cash for int. on B. Butman & Go's, note $670, 

6 mo 20 . 10 

" rec'd of J. Pierce in part for his note 1 50 . 00 

Dec. To " for int. on J. Fessenden's note of $600, 

6 mo 18.00 

" A. Ward's note $106, 12 mo.. . 6.36 

" J. Stone's note $1000, 6 mo. .. . 30.00 

1833 

Jan. '1 S. Burt & G. T. Rice's note 

$390, 1 2 mo 23 . 40 

" J. A. Patch & A. Patch notes 

$400, 6 mo 12.00 

" B. F. Spofford's note $200, 

6 mo 6 . 00 

Feb. " E. Ludden's note $300, 6 mo .... 9 . 00 

" O. Sanger's note $300, 6 mo. ... 9.00 

March " O. WelUngton's note $400, 6 mo. 12.00 

" E. Brigham's 2 notes $850, 

6 mo 25.50 

" L. Howe's notes $100, 12 mo. 

& int 6. 10 

" I. Thompson's notes $600, 

" 6 mo 18.00 

April " J. K. L. Pickford's notes $500, 

6 mo 15 00 

" T. Fuller's note $500, 6 mo iS-oo 

" Sp. Crosby's notes $1000, 6 mo. 30.00 

" J. P. Kettell'snote $150, 12 mo. 9.00 

Dividend on 5 shares Blacks tone Bank 15. 00 

Interest on S. Damon's notes $780, 6 mo 23 .40 

" " A. Albee's notes $550, 6 mo 16. 50 

" " M. Hayden's note $1000, 6 mo 30.00 

Amount of S. M. Burnside's note $200.00 

Interest 5.10 

$205.10 205.10 

$853.06 



Meeting of May jo, 1832 255 

Cr. 

1832 
Nov. 23. By amount of S. M. Burnside's note of this day. . . . $200.00 
1832 

Apr. 5. By cash paid Librarian for six months salary $300 . 00 

Balance $353.06 



$853.06 



The fvmds of the American Antiquarian Society consist 
I. Of the specific legacy of I. Thomas, Esq., amounting 

on the 4th April, 1832 to $12,000 

Interest to this time 112 



>I2,II2.00 



Of amount rec'd of the executors of Mr. Thomas as 
residuary legatees, principally in notes and mortgages 
all of which are supposed to be well secured — with 
interest accrued at this time 9,481 . 00 

Of a small sum upon which all the contingent expenses, 
which have yet been Uquidated, have been paid, and 
which includes the amount of the donation of N. 
Maccarty, Esq. ($500.00), on interest 503 .00 

Of real estate in Middlebury and Duxbury, Vermont, 

value not ascertained, but estimated at 870.00 

Cash in the hands of the treasurer 34 • 00 



$23,000.00 



A further dividend is expected to be received from the ex'rs of Mr. 
Thomas. Amount uncertain. 

Sam'l Jennison, 

Treas'er, A. Antiq. Soc'y. 
May 30, 1832. 

Librarian's Report 

The Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society begs 
leave to submit the following Report. 

The Librarian's time was mostly occupied from the first 
of January to the first of April in arranging pamphlets and 
MSS., and preparing them for the binder. The collections of 
the Society in these two departments are respectable both 
for number and value. 

His term of office did not commence until the first of April, 
and from the first of January to this time, his services to the 
Society were gratuitous. On the first of April, he entered 
upon his duties as Librarian and from that time to the present 
has been employed in preparing a catalogue of the books be- 
longing to the Society for publication. Less progress in this, 
however, has been made than was anticipated in consequence 



256 American Antiquarian Society 

of the coldness of the weather and interruptions from visitors. 
It is beheved that both these causes of delay will soon be re- 
moved, and if the Librarian can devote his whole time to 
making the catalogue, he indulges the behef that he shall 
have it ready for publication as early as November next. 

The plan adopted is that of the new Cambridge Catalogue 
published in 1830. As, however, it is one among the prin- 
cipal objects of the Library to have in it as full and complete 
a collection of works relating to the history of the Western 
Continent as may be possible, it is proposed, unless the 
Council shall otherwise direct, that it be different from the 
Cambridge Catalogue in one respect, which is that the index 
to works on American History be more minute and particular. 
This will add in some measure to the labor of making the 
catalogue, but, it is beheved that such an alteration will con- 
tribute greatly to the convenience as well as certainty of 
readily finding anything which the Library may contain. 
There are many volumes which contain the works or labors 
of different authors and unless these are separately referred 
to in the catalogue itself or the index, there would be some 
difficulty in finding them, and strangers would infer that no 
such books were in the Library. This remark does not apply, 
of course, to pamphlets and publications of that description, 
but to the authors of collections of different works on the 
same subjects, as Hakluyt, Purchas, Churchill, Harris and 
many others. 

The Library has suffered considerably from the depre- 
dations committed by insects. The greatest injury has been 
done by a small insect commonly called the "fur bug." It 
feeds principally upon the leather and attacks new, rather 
than old books. It has not been known to eat the paper, as 
is done by the common moth. 

The Librarian would respectfully request permission of the 
Council that newspapers as well as other books may be put 
into half binding with Russia backs. The difference of ex- 
pence between this and common sheep binding is very in- 
considerable; while the advantages of Russia binding over 
every other kind are very great. The leather is more durable 
and it is well ascertained that for some cause the insects 
never meddle with it. Besides, it imparts an agreeable 
flavor to the rooms of the Library. 

Chris. C. Baldwin, 

Lib'n A. A. Society. 
Worcester, 28 May, 1832. 



Meeting of October 24, i8j2 257 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1832 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
Antiquarian Hall on Tuesday, the 23d day of October, A.D., 
1832, at Worcester; Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., in the Chair. 

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned till tomorrow, at 
two o'clock P.M., at this place. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, 1832 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, by ad- 
journment, held on the 24th day of October, 1832, at the 
Hall of the Society in Worcester, the proceedings were as 
follows : 

The Secretary read the semi-annual Report of the Council, 
with the Reports of the Building Committee, Librarian and 
Treasurer; and 

Voted, That the same be accepted and recorded. 

Semi- Annual Report of the Council^ 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, pursuant 
to the requirement of the By-Laws, submit the following as 
their Semi-Annual Report on the affairs of the Society. 

Two wings to their Hall have been erected and are now 
finished. Repairs and some alterations have been made in 
the main body of the building rendered necessary by the ad- 
ditions: the want of proper ventilation and the rot occa- 
sioned by damp and leakage. The grounds and fences have 
also undergone considerable change, it being desirable to 
drain the land more effectually and to make it, as well as the 
fences, conform to the building in its present shape. The 
want of more room was felt before the death of Mr. Thomas, 
and he left a legacy of one thousand dollars towards building 
the wings. It was thought most judicious to erect at this 

^ This is the'first report rendered by the Council to the Society. According to 
the 1831 By-laws, a report should have been made in May, 1832, but appar- 
ently none was made, nor is any report on file. In fact there is no record of a 
meeting of the Council between Feb. 29 and July 25, 1832, although meetings 
were evidently held and blank spaces in the Council Book are left for their 
record. 



258 American Antiquarian Society 

time two wings sufificiently spacious to meet the wants of 
the Library for some years to come, and also to accommo- 
date the Librarian. These objects have been fully attained, 
and the expense as appears by the Report of the Building 
Committee will be about nineteen hundred and fifty dollars; 
one thousand dollars of which is provided for by the afore- 
said legacy. The remainder must be met in such way as the 
Society shall direct. 

The Council have the satisfaction to announce to the 
Society that the design of their late benefactor, Mr. Thomas, 
has been fulfilled in giving to the Librarian an apartment 
which is considered to be fire-proof, and by adding to the 
Hall a large apartment for books, which is already, in part, 
filled. The expenditure necessary to accomplish this object 
has been heavy, but could not be avoided without disregard- 
ing his earnest desires and suffering the estate to fall into 
decay. 

The Librarian has been engaged assiduously since the last 
semi-annual meeting, during all the time that could be spared 
from other duties, in preparing a catalogue, which is incom- 
plete for the reasons assigned by him in his Report which is 
hereunto annexed. He has been much occupied with visitors 
from all parts of the country which affords proof that the 
pubHc feel a Kvely interest in the success of the Institution. 
It appears also by his report that large additions have been 
made to the Library by benevolent individuals for which we 
are much indebted to the zeal and address of the Librarian, 
whose extensive correspondence has enabled him to search 
out and secure many valuable works which have improved 
our collection. 

The arrangement of the Library has also been considerably 
improved and the books cleansed from dust and mould. The 
Council have the satisfaction therefore to report that it is in 
a good and prosperous condition, acquiring daily new friends 
by the attractions it holds out to the learned. 

The Report of the Treasurer, not being completed, cannot 
be particularly noticed, but, when handed in, will be ap- 
pended to this document, and will show the state of the 
finances. A committee of the Council was raised to advise 
with the Treasurer upon the propriety of arranging the funds 
according to the terms of the bequests of the donors, that the 
income of each may be applied to the specific object for which 
it was designed; and also to enquire whether we could not 



Meeting of October 24, 1832 259 

borrow from one fund to aid another upon which more press- 
ing demands exist by pledging the future income of the fund 
thus aided to restore the sum borrowed. This committee 
have not reported. It will therefore be left to the Corpora- 
tion to dispose of these matters as they in their wisdom shall 
deem most judicious. 

The Council, on the whole, congratulate the Society upon 
the prosperous condition and flattering prospects of the In- 
stitution. 

Per order. 
Oct., 1832. (Signed) John Davis. 



Report of the Building Committee 

The Building Committee offer the following Report to 
the Council of the American Antiquarian Society and beg 
leave to state that all the alterations and repairs directed by 
them have been completed. They regret that they cannot 
present their account of the expenses incurred, but they 
have not been able to get in all the bills. 

The amount of cash received by your Committee, up to 
this time, is eighteen hundred and three dollars and nine- 
teen cents, of which the legacy of one thousand dollars from 
our late President is a part. The remainder was borrowed 
of the Treasurer of the Society, and he holds our notes for 
the same. 

The expenses have certainly exceeded what was at first 
contemplated, and the unpaid bills will probably increase 
the amount from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 
more. But the Council will bear in mind that it was not 
merely necessary to alter the building but to add something 
to the accommodation of the interior. Your Committee are 
of opinion that nothing has been done which will be found 
unnecessary or improper. They wish they could add that 
the expenditure would stop here; but they regret to say that 
not much time must elapse before it will be found necessary 
to renew nearly, if not quite all, the lower flooring. Many 
of the floor joists are now entirely rotten, caused by the 
wetness of the cellar and imperfect ventilation. The former 
cannot be remedied; the latter we hope is improved. 

If the funds of the Society would admit of it, the addition 
of a portico would much improve the appearance of the 



26o American Antiquarian Society 

building, and it is believed the cost would not exceed two 
hundred dollars. 

All which is respectively submitted, by order of the Com- 
mittee. 

(Signed) Frederick William Paine. 
Worcester, Oct. 19, 1832. 
To the Council of the Am. Ant. Soc. 



Report of the Librarian 

The Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society begs 
leave to submit the following Report: 

The Librarian, since the semi-annual meeting in May last, 
has been engaged in preparing a catalogue of the Library of 
the Society for publication. It was then believed that he 
would be able to complete the catalogue as early as November; 
in this, however, he must be disappointed. In consequence 
of a very considerable portion of his time having been occu- 
pied by interruptions from visitors, less progress has been 
made in this part of his duties than was anticipated. Be- 
sides, the labor of making the catalogue is much greater than 
was supposed. There are various other duties, inconsider- 
able in themselves, but which are absolutely necessary to be 
performed, and when taken together, occupy a portion of 
each day. 

Many additions have been made to the collections of the 
Society since the Librarian's term of service commenced. 
Accompanying this Report is the list of donations made by 
the HberaUty of various individuals during that period, and 
for which suitable acknowledgments have been returned. 
They consist principally of historical pubHcations, and when 
accommodated with indices and made readily accessible by 
the systematic index which will accompany the catalogue, 
will be regarded as valuable acquisitions. 

These additions consist of seventy-one volumes of news- 
papers, six volumes in folio, ten volumes in quarto, one 
hundred volumes in octavo, sixty-five volumes in duodecimo, 
and four hundred pamphlets; and are all particularly de- 
scribed in the accompanying Hst of donations. 

The same plan for the catalogue has been pursued as that 
mentioned in the Librarian's Report in May last, which is 
the same with that of the new Cambridge Catalogue pub- 
lished in 1830. The labor of preparing it [is] greatly facili- 



Meeting of October 24, i8j2 261 

tated by having the Cambridge Catalogue as a help or guide, 
as a great portion of the volumes found in the Antiquarian 
Library are contained in that belonging to the University. 
Essential aid has been also found in the circumstance that 
the difficulty of ascertaining the names of the authors of 
anonymous pamphlets is in a measure removed, because 
that task has been already performed by the diligent labors 
of the late Mr. Pierce. 

How long a time must elapse before the catalogue can be 
made ready for publication, it is difficult, at present, to de- 
termine. The duties relating to it, which remain to be per- 
formed, are not so great as those which have been already 
accomplished. It will be necessary before completing it 
that the newspapers and pamphlets should be put in binding. 
More system in relation to the arrangement of the books 
upon the shelves can then be effected than at present pre- 
vails, and the general appearance of the Library will be 
greatly improved. 

[Signed] Christopher Columbus Baldwin, Librarian. 
To the Council of the Amer. Ant. Soc. 



Treasurer's Report 

Schedule of Notes, etc., being the amount of the Residuary 
Legacy of I. Thomas 

Southworth Rowland's note and mortgage $700 . 00 

George Allen's " " 700 . 00 

F. W. Paine's note 1 14 . 00 

Same 100 . 00 

Same i77 ■ 59 

E. H. Trowbridge's note and mortgage 300 . 00 

Jonas Holt's " " 100.00 

100.00 
500 . 00 
400 . 00 
600 . 00 
200.00 
300 . 00 
1 50 . 00 



James Brown's " 

Curtis Rice's " 

Alfred Torrey's 
Abraham Cutting's " 
Wm. W. Pratt's 
Oliver Wetherby's " 
Levi Green's " 

Jno. Coe and T. W. Bancroft's notes $225 & $225 450.00 

George Estabrook, Merrill Davis, David Davis note 300 . 00 

George T. Rice, Clarendon Wheelock, Lewis Thayer 499 46 

Benjamin Butman & Co's note 947 . 00 

John Carpenter's note and mortgage 300 . 00 

In Oxford Bank stock 400 . 00 

Isaiah Thomas, Jun's, note 300 . 00 

$7638.05 



262 



American Antiquarian Society 



Benjamin Butman & Co's note $200 
F. W. Paine's note 300 S 



\ Maccarty Legacy 



500.00 



Amount of Residuary Legacy brought down 7638 . 05 

Nath'I C. Ranney's note and mortgage, balance of 

principal 

Thomas Wilder's notes (mortgage) Balance 

Mark Folsom's 



John Low 
John Peabody 
Abijah Twichell 
Jer'h Hildreth 
John Stearns 



Lot of land and buildings in Middlebury ) y . 

A tract of land in Duxbury ) ermon 

Isaiah Thomas' note. Balance 

Legacy of Nath'I Maccarty, Esq 

Interest accrued Oct. 22, 1832 



$77 00 
440 . 00 

96 . 00 
133.00 

93.00 

7572 

86.70 

76.50 
S1077.92 1077.92 

$8715.97 



29.40 
500 . 00 
248.51 

$9492.88 



Nov. 6, 1830. 

Dec. 

Jan. 1831. 

April " 

July " 

Aug. " 
It <( 

Sept. " 
Oct. " 
Jan. 1832. 
March " 

April " 
May " 



July 



Aug. 
Oct. 



Expenses paid out by the Treasurer 

For use of room for annual meeting $3 . 00 

Cash paid A. Merrifield, carpenter 3 . 23 

" paid for postage .76 

" paid William Lincoln for paper 6.00 

" paid for postage i . 07 

" paid A. Merritield per order i .00 

" paid for postage .42 

" paid for recording an assignment i .00 

" paid for Encyclopaedia No. :i;^ 4.00 

" paid for Hudsons & Adams' advertising. 2.25 

" paid for postage .88 

" paid for postage i . 73 

" paid J. Wood for binding books 8.00 

" paid R. Barras for labor 4.76 

" paid for postage 4.01 

" paid Chris. C. Baldwin for expenses of 

wood, etc 16 . 83 

" paid for transcribing Gookin's History of 

ye Christian Indians 15 00 

" paid for postage 3.67 

" paid for R. Barras' labor 4 . 50 

" paid A. Ward for recording assignment. . .57 

" paid A. Bellows for wood 4 . 33 

" paid J. T. LovcU for truckage .50 

" paid for postage 3.18 

" paid Chris. C. Baldwin, Librarian 300.00 



$390.69 



Meeting of October 24, i8j2 



263 



Schedule of the Notes, etc., in which are invested the sum of twelve 
thousand dollars, a legacy of Isaiah Thomas, Esq., the in- 
come of which is appropriated to the support of a Librarian, 
etc. On interest from April 4, i8j2. 

Edmund Brigham's note and mortgage $550.00 

Edmund Brigham's " " 300.00 

Samuel Damon's " 300.00 

Samuel Damon's " 480 . 00 

John P. Kettcll & Go's " 150.00 

Benjamin Butman & Go's note 190 . 00 

Artemas Ward's " 106 . 00 

John Fessendcn's note and mortgage 600.00 

Benjamin Butman and Go's note 670.00 

Levi Howe's note 100 . 00 

Jotham Stone's note and mortgage 1000.00 

John A. Patch's note. Lucy Patch and Jno. Gleason, sureties 200 . 00 
Andrew Patch's note. Rebecca Patch, Lewis^Bigelow, Lucy 

Patch, sureties 200 . 00 

Simeon Burt and George T. Rice's note 390.00 

Galvin Winter's note and mortgage 300 . 00 

Enoch Ludden's " " 300.00 

Fred. W. Paine's " " iii.oo 

Obadiah Sanger's " " 300.00 

Benjamin F. Spofford's note and mortgage 200.00 

OHver WeUington's " " 400.00 

James Pierce's " " 300.00 

Asahel Albee's " " 550.00 

John K. L. Pickford's " " 300.00 

John K. L. Pickford's " '* 200.00 

Turner Fuller's " " 500.00 

Ira Thompson's " " 600.00 

Moses Hayden's " " 1000.00 

Sparrow Grosby's " " . '. 500.00 

Sparrow Grosby's " " 500.00 

Stock in the Blackstone Bank 500 . 00 

$11,797.00 

Interest accrued Oct. 22, 1832 ' 141 -44 

Cash on hand 148 . 60 

$12,087 04 



The foregoing Reports having been read, the Society then 
proceeded to the election of its officers for the ensuing year 
and the following gentlemen were chosen: 

His Honor, Thomas Lyndall Winthrop, of Boston, President. 
Hon. John Davis, of Worcester, ist Vice-President. 
Hon. Joseph Story, of Cambridge, 2d Vice-President. 
Rejoice Newton, Esq., of Worcester, Recording Secretary. 
Hon. Edward Everett, of Gharlestown, For. Cor. Secretary. 



264 American Antiquarian Society 

William Lincoln, Esq., of Worcester, Dom. Cor. Secretary. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq., of Worcester, Treasurer. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell, of Boston. 
His Ex'y Levi Lincoln, of Worcester. 
James Bowdoin, Esq., Boston. 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq., of Boston. 
Hon. James C. Merrill, of Boston. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D., of Boston. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., of Worcester. 
Frederick William Paine, Esq., of Worcester. 
Dr. John Green, M.D., of Worcester. 
Dr. John Park, M.D., of Worcester. 

Publishing Committee 

Rev. William Jenks, D.D., of Boston. 
William Lincoln, Esq., of Worcester. 
Dr. John Park, of Worcester. 
Joseph Willard, Esq., of Boston. 
Alfred D wight Foster, Esq., of Worcester. 

The follovdng motion, submitted by his Excellency, Gov. 
Lincoln, vv^as voted to be adopted, to wit: That the accounts 
of the Building Committee for expenses incurred in the con- 
struction of the wings to the Antiquarian Hall and for ad- 
ditions and alterations in the buildings and improvements 
upon the grounds, be referred to the Council with full au- 
thority to adjust and finally settle the same, and to draw 
an order on the Treasurer for the payment thereof, to be 
charged to the Society; and that thereupon the responsi- 
bihty of said Committee for disbursements on said accounts 
be cancelled and they fully discharged. And that the amount 
of such expenses be paid out of any moneys not specifically 
appropriated, or the interest of any money subject to the 
disposal of the Society. 

Voted, That a committee be appointed to make an ap- 
propriation of the funds devised for specific objects accord- 
ing to the intentions of the donors, and that the Treasurer 
keep distinct accounts of each fund when so appropriated. 

Voted, That said committee consist of three and the fol- 
lowing gentlemen were chosen to wit: 

Hon. John Davis, of Worcester. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., of Worcester. 

Sam. M. Burnside, Esq., of Worcester. 

Voted to adjourn. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec''g Sec'y. 



Meeting of May 2q, i8jj 265 

MEETING OF MAY 29, 1833 

At the semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, holden at Boston, at the Exchange Coffee House, on 
the 29th of May, 1833. 

The Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 
The Report of the Council was read, accepted, and ordered 
to be recorded. 

A committee was then chosen, consisting of the Hon. 
Benjamin Russell, of Boston, and Edward D. Bangs, Sec'y 
of the Commonwealth, to collect and preserve for the use of 
the Society such articles calculated to preserve the history 
of the Commonwealth and of the country as they may find 
in repairing the State House, which they may have authority 
thus to dispose of. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, in com- 
pliance with the By-Laws, submit their semi-annual Report 
of the condition of the Library, funds, property and affairs of 
the Institution. 

Previous to the Report of the Council presented to the an- 
nual meeting in October last, two new wings were added to 
the main building of the Society, sufficiently spacious for the 
present accommodation and future convenience of the fast 
increasing Library and Cabinet. Repairs and improve- 
ments, rendered necessary by defects in the construction of 
the old building, or required in consequence of the new erec- 
tions, for proper ventilation and draining, had then been 
made under the direction of a judicious and able committee. 
Changes of the surface of the earth and of the fences then in 
progress have since been completed. The grounds have been 
surrounded with belts and groves of forest trees planted by 
the Librarian. The good taste of arrangement will render 
them objects of beauty, and, on maturity, the green en- 
closure will afford no inconsiderable protection [from] the 
fires of the dense population fast closing around, in near 
vicinity. The buildings are now in such condition as to 
secure the valuable collections they contain from destruction 



266 American Antiquarian Society 

or injury by the elements. Convenient for the purposes of 
their appropriation, neat and elegant in appearance, they 
have been made alike useful for the Society and ornamental 
to the Town. 

Many books, tracts and newspapers have been added to 
the Library since the annual report in October last, by pur- 
chase, donations, and the skill and perseverance of the Li- 
brarian in extracting from the possession of individuals the 
treasures which belong to the pubHc. The Report of that 
oflBicer states, that nearly a thousand volumes were acquired 
during the year ending on the first of April last. This very 
considerable increase indicates the growing interest of the 
public in the purposes of the Institution, and the reviving 
disposition of individuals to exercise the right and privilege 
they possess of presenting works illustrative of the history of 
our country to a Library which unites the objects of safe 
preservation and pubUc use. 

The Catalogue of the collections of the Society so much 
needed and so long expected, is now nearly completed and it 
is hoped may be published before the next annual meeting. 
Great labor and care have been bestowed on the prepara- 
tion. It will exhibit a minute Hst of all the books, tracts, 
newspapers and manuscripts of the Library in scientific 
arrangement. 

The Library appears from recent examination to have 
been kept in neat order; the books are free from dust, mould 
and destructive insects; and the Cabinet is in entire preserva- 
tion. 

Much of the time of the Librarian has been occupied by 
attendance on visitors. In accordance with the hberal views 
of the great benefactor of the Institution the collections have 
been open to the public under certain necessary regulations 
and have been occasionally resorted to by strangers from all 
parts of the Union and by citizens from the vicinity. 

An active correspondence has been maintained by the 
Librarian and those who were possessed of valuable works 
have been frequently reminded of the enhanced worth their 
property would acquire if placed on the shelves of the Li- 
brary by donation. 

The condition of the financial concerns of the Society is 
exhibited by the Report of the Treasurer annexed to this 
paper. The Fund of Twelve Thousand Dollars bestowed by 
the liberality of the late Dr. Thomas, has been invested and 



Meeting of May 2q, i8jj 267 

the income appropriated to the objects contemplated by the 
benevolent donor. The other funds derived from the be- 
quest of the same hberal individual and from another dona- 
tion have been also safely invested. They amount to the sum 
of nine thousand dollars. When the considerable, but in- 
dispensably necessary, expenses of the erection of the wings, 
repairs, and improvements of the buildings, shall have been 
extinguished, there will accrue surplus revenue, beyond the 
current charges of the Society, for the increase of the Li- 
brary by the purchase of scarce and valuable books and for 
the publication of original works of interest. 

The operations of the PubHshing Committee have been 
embarrassed by the residence of its members at a distance 
from each other. They have prepared for the press a manu- 
script history of the sufferings of the Christian Indians 
written by the venerable Daniel Gookin. It is expected that 
the tract, forming the first part of the volume, to be com- 
pleted from the collections of the Society, can be printed be- 
fore October next. 

The prosperous condition of the affairs of the Society is 
ahke gratifying as furnishing evidence of the lively interest 
taken by the Hberal in its objects, and holding out prospects 
of its future advance and usefulness. Standing as it now 
does on a permanent foundation, and gathering around it the 
materials of history, aided by the good will of the public and 
the increased exertions of its members, it may, at no distant 
period, be made one of the noblest and most useful of the in- 
stitutions of our country. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

William Lincoln ^ ... /•,,/-, -, 

c. TVT 13 ^ „ tommtttee of the Council. 

Sam. M. Burnside ■' 

Monday, May 27, 1833. The Council, at a meeting duly 
notified and held at the Antiquarian Hall, adopted the fore- 
going Report, together with the annexed documents as and 
for their semi-annual Report, and directed the same to be 
made to the Society at a meeting to be held at Boston, on the 
29th inst. 

[Rejqice Newton] Recording Secretary. 



268 



American Antiquarian Society 



Treasurer's Report 

Samuel Jennison, Treasurer, in account with the Amer. Ant. 

Soc. 

On account of the Residuary Legacy of Isaiah Thomas. 



Cr. 

Oct. 22, 1832. To balance of account 

Nov. " To interest received of C. Rice on note of 

$500, 6 mo 

Dec. " To interest on J. Brown's note $100, 12 mo. . . 

" " To amount of Benj. Butman & Go's note of 

$947, and int 

" " To interest of S. Rowlands note of $700, 

12 mo 

" " To interest of A. Torrey's note of $400, 6 mo. 

Jan. 1833 To interest on J. Holt's note of $100, 6 mo. . . 
" on A. Cutting's note of $600, 6 mo. 
" on O. Wetherby's note of $300, 

6 mo 

" on E. H. Trowbridge's note of 

$300, 6 mo 

Feb. " " " on W. W. Pratt's note of $200, 

6 mo 

" on J. Coe and T. W. Bancroft's 

notes of $450, 12 mo 

" on L. Green's note of $150, 6 mo. 
April " " Amount of G. T. Rice and C. Wheelock's 

note and interest 

" " " Dividend on shares in Oxford Bank 

Balance 



Balance due to the Treasurer on a previous 
account $32.90 



Dr. 



Dec. 1832 By Cash paid to C. C. Baldwin, per order 

" " " " on account of Rev. Dr. Jenks . . . 

" " " Amount of B. Butman's note and dated 

Oct. 20 

" F. W. Paine's note Dec. 11 .... 

Cash paid J. Wilson for postage 

" " C. C. Baldwin for sundry publi- 
cations 

" " M. W. Grout for printing 

" " J. Wilson for postage 

Amount of G. T. Rice and C. Wheelock's note 

Cash paid C. C. Baldwin for sundry expenses 

as per bills allowed 



Jan. 1833 



Feb. 
April 



$18.13 

15.00 
6.00 

948.13 

42 .00 

12.00 

3.00 

18.00 

9.00 

9.12 

6.00 

27.00 
450 

517-40 
12.00 
45 13 

$1692.31 



$17.97 
98.64 

800 . 00 

I 50 . 00 

7.29 

27.00 

7.00 

4.42 

517-40 

62.59 



$1692.31 



Meeting of May 2q, i8jj 269 

Samuel Jennison, Treasurer, in account with the American 
Antiqu. Society on account of I. Thomas' Legacy of 12,000 
Dollars. 

Dr. 

1832 

Oct. 22. To Cash on hand $148 . 60 

Nov. 20. " " for interest on B. Butman's note $670, 

6 mo 20.10 

" " " Cash rec'd of J. Pierce in part of his note 1 50. 00 

Dec. " " " on J. Fessenden note of $600, 6 rao. . 18.00 

" " " " onA. Ward's note of $106, 12 mo.. . 6.36 

" " " " onj. Stone's note of $1000, 6 mo. .. . 30.00 

1833 

Jan. " " " on S. Burt and G. T. Rice's note of 

$390. 1 2 mo 23 . 40 

" " " " J. A. Patch and A. Patch's notes 

$400, 6 mo 12.00 

" " " " on B. F. Spofford's note, $200, 6 mo. 6.00 

Feb. " " " E. Ludden's note, $300, 6 mo 9.00 

" " " " O. Sanger's note $300, 6 mo 9.00 

March " " " O. Welhngston's note, $400, 6 mo. . . 12.00 

" " " " E. Brigham's 2 notes, $850, 6 mo. . . . 25 . 50 
" " " " L. Howe's note $100, 12 mo and 

int 6.10 

" " " " I. Thompson's note, $500, 6 mo 18.00 

April " " " J. K. L. Pickford's note, $500, 6 mo. 15.00 

" " " T. Fuller's note $500, 6 mo 15 .00 

" " " " Sp. Crosby's notes $1000, 6 mo 30.00 

" " " " J. P. Ketteirsnote$i5o, i2mo 9.00 

" " " " Dividend on 5 shares of Blackstone 

Bank 15 00 

" " " S. Damon's notes $780, 6 mo 23 . 40 

" " '' " A. Albee'snote, $550, 6mo 16.50 

" '' " " M. Hayden's note $1000, 6 mo 30.00 

" " " " Amount of S. M. Burnside note $200 

and int 205 . 10 , 

$853.06 
Cr. 
Nov. 23, 1832. By amount of S. M. Burnside's note of this 

day $200 . 00 

April 5, 1833. By cash paid Librarian for six months' salary 300.00 

Balance 353 06 

$853-06 



Librarian's Report 

The Librarian, since the annual meeting of the Society in 
October last, has. been engaged in making a catalogue of the 
books, pamphlets, etc., in the Library. This labor is now 



270 American Antiquarian Society 

nearly accompKshed. There only remain the newspapers, a 
very inconsiderable proportion of the pamphlets and the 
books in the German language presented by the late Rev. 
Dr. Bentley of Salem, to be entered upon the list: to add these 
may possibly occupy his time to the first of August. The 
Catalogue must then be arranged and transcribed, which 
can probably be accomplished as early as the annual meeting 
of the Society in October next. 

It affords the Librarian sensible pleasure that he can pre- 
sent to the Council so respectable and acceptable a Hst of 
additions as has been made to the Library during the last 
six months. He can only state generally that they consist 
of books, pamphlets and newspapers, chiefly relating to 
American history and are particularly described in the vol- 
ume kept for that purpose, with the names of the donors. 
The whole number of volumes added during the year preced- 
ing the first of April last, will not fall much short of a thou- 
sand: of these over four hundred bound volumes have been 
presented by William Lincoln, Esq., together with many 
newspapers and about two hundred unbound pamphlets. 
Christopher Columbus Baldwin. 
Worcester, May 21, 1833. Librarian of ye A. A. Society. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1833 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
at Antiquarian Hall on Wednesday, 23rd of October, 1833, 
no legal presiding officer being present, the Rev. Aaron Ban- 
croft, D.D., was called to the Chair, and the following pro- 
ceedings had : 

The semi-annual report of the Council was read and ac- 
cepted and placed on the files of the Society, and the pub- 
lishing committee requested to publish such parts thereof as 
they may judge proper in the public papers. 

Semi-annual Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, in com- 
pliance with the provisions of the Laws, respectfully submit 
their semi-annual report of the condition of the funds and 
concerns of the Institution. 

The property of the Society consists in the buildings, now 



Meeting of October 2j, 1833 271 

in good repair and well fitted for the preservation of its col- 
lections, the use of the Librarian and accommodation of the 
members and the public; in the Library and Cabinet daily- 
increasing in value and interest ; in the land around the Hall 
neatly enclosed and planted with ornamental trees fast be- 
coming beautiful; in a real estate situated in Middlebury 
estimated by the Treasurer to be of the value of $600 only; 
and in the funds, which by the accounts of that officer ap- 
pear to amount to the sum of $21,422.10, all safely invested 
and bearing interest, and principally derived from the dona- 
tions and bequests of the [late] Dr. Isaiah Thomas, the liberal 
founder and benefactor of the Society. With the addition of 
the Middlebury estate, which it is hoped may be made avail- 
able for a larger sum than the estimate and which yields an 
adequate rent, the disposable funds of the Society, exclusive 
of its buildings, collections, and land in Worcester, amount 
to $22,022.10. 

From the report of the Librarian which is annexed, it ap- 
pears that about four hundred volumes of books and an 
equal number of unbound tracts have been added to the 
Library since the semi-annual meeting in May last. During 
the period of six months preceding that date about 500 vols. 
and tracts had been received, making an aggregate of more 
than 900 vols, acquired within the past year. Among them 
are many curious books, scarce and interesting tracts, works 
illustrative of the antiquities and relating to the history of 
the country. 

The examination of the donation book shows that these 
have principally been derived from the liberality of mem- 
bers, authors, public bodies, and individuals interested in 
promoting the useful objects of the Society. It is believed 
that a very brief review of the names of those who have been 
donors would be interesting as affording evidence of the ex- 
tent of interest which has been felt in the institution and the 
increasing regard of the pubhc for its purposes. 

Many of the members of the Society have been mindful of 
the implied obligation resulting from their relation annually 
to add some book or tract to its collections. Those who have 
not performed this duty, it may be hoped and expected will 
avail themselves of the earliest opportunity to transmit 
their gifts. Many valuable works have been added by the 
President, Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, by the Vice-Presidents, 
Hon. Joseph Story and the Hon. John Davis, by his Ex- 



272 American Antiquarian Society 

cellency Levi Lincoln, Hon. Edward Everett, Josiah Quincy, 
Hon. Oliver Fiske, Hon. Abijah Bigelow, Rev. Abiel Holmes, 
Rev. Aaron Bancroft, Rev. John Brazer, Dr. Jacob Porter, 
Emory Washburn, John Farmer, Frederick W. Paine, C. C. 
Baldwin, Rejoice Newton, S. M. Burnside, Alexander Dustin, 
Ichabod Tucker, Theophilus Wheeler, Samuel Jennison, 
George Folsom, Dr. John Green and William Lincoln, 
Esquires, and the venerable Mr. William Bond, and other 
oflEicers and members. 

From authors several works have been received. Hon. 
Judge Martin of Louisiana, James Bates of Abington, Mass., 
Moses Carey and Jesse Perkins of North Bridgewater, Mass., 
Charles W. Moore of Boston and John F. Watson of Phila- 
delphia have contributed books or maps made by them 
respectively. 

Messrs. Pierce and Parker of Boston, John M. Earle and 
Dorr and Howland of Worcester have bestowed copies of 
their publications. 

The number of donors who have exercised the right and 
privilege of presenting to the Society, from the great body of 
the community is not inconsiderable. Among them are 
Simeon S. Goodwin of Louisville, Ky., J. R. Curley of Wash- 
ington, Mathew Carey, Esq., of Philadelphia, William Emer- 
son of the City of New York, Hon. Martin Wells of Weathers- 
field, Conn., Rev. Romeo Elton of Providence, R. I., Edmund 
Chadwick, Esq., of Concord, and Dr. Charles G. Green of 
Windsor, Vt., Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, Horatio Hill, Esq., of 
Concord, and Hon. Samuel Smith of Peterboro', N. H., Rev. 
Daniel Huntington of North Bridgewater, Rev. Daniel 
Thomas and Joseph Brown, Esq., of Abington, Rodolphus 
Morton of Hatfield, Erastus Worthington, Esq., of Dedham, 
Hon. Levi Thaxter of Watertown, Hon. Daniel Wells and 
Mr. George T. Davis of Greenfield, Mr. James Brown, Edward 
Tuckerman, Jr., Rev. William Cogswell, Joseph Ballard, and 
R. T. Paine of Boston, Rev. Henry Colman, Deerfield, Herman 
Atwill, of Concord, Mr. James G. Carter of Lancaster, Hon. 
Ira Barton of Oxford, Hon. Samuel Lee of Barre, Silas Jones, 
Esq., Leicester, Hon. Jonas Kendall, Leominster, Doctor 
Stephen Batcheller, Royalston, Samuel Slater, Esq., of Web- 
ster, John L. Boylston, Princeton, Hon. Bezaleel Taft, Ux- 
bridge, Henry Paine, Capt. Luther Burnett, William N. Green, 
Esq., Dr. James Green, Samuel H. Colton, Moses W. Grout, 
Henry Wheeler, Doctor Samuel B. Woodward, Mr. David 



Meeting of October 2j, iSjj 273 

Wilder, Maturin L. Fisher, Esq., Mr. Clarendon Harris, Mr. 
Edward Kirkland, Calvin Willard, Esq., Benjamin F. Thomas, 
Esq., Artemas Ward, Esq., Mr. Edwin Church, Isaac Davis, 
Esq., Mr. Andrew Jackson Davis, Mr. Samuel B. Thomas, 
WilHam S. Andrews, Esq., William Austin Goddard, Mr. 
J. S. C. Knowlton, Mr. Joseph Boyden of Worcester. 

Among the donations from legislative bodies and public 
associations are those from the Congress of the United States, 
the Governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 
the Salem East India Marine Society, and the New Hamp- 
shire Historical Society. The Hampden Mechanic Associa- 
tion have presented a beautiful chair made of oak from the 
Pynchon House in Springfield, Mass., formerly called the 
old fort, erected in 1660 and taken down in 1831, a specimen 
of the durabihty of ancient materials and elegance of modern 
workmanship. 

The Catalogue of the Library is represented as com- 
pleted with the exception of the newspapers and collections 
in the German Language, presented by the late Rev. Dr. 
Bentley. It is suggested that before pubhcation, the im- 
mense number of tracts belonging to the Society should be 
bound in volumes, that distinct reference may be made to 
the place of each. Examination of the Library and Cabinet 
show that both are in condition of neatness and good order. 

A voluminous correspondence has been carried on during 
the year. The Letter Book of the Librarian shows the 
fideHty and unwearied diligence of that officer in explaining 
the objects of the Society and in affording to the possessors 
of curious and valuable works and reHcs information that 
our halls afford a place of deposit where all donations are 
carefully preserved from injury for the use of the scholar, the 
historian and the pubHc. 

The residence of the committee of publication at a distance 
from each other, preventing meetings and diminishing re- 
sponsibility has prevented progress being made in the com- 
pilation of the contemplated volume. It is respectfully sug- 
gested that the appointment of a smaller committee in the 
vicinity of the collections of the Society would enable those 
to whom the duty should be assigned to issue from the press 
in a few weeks the interesting MSS. of the venerable Gookin. 

The buildings and collections of the Society have been 
open to the public under necessary regulations and the visi- 
tation book shows that they have been frequently examined 



274 American Antiquarian Society 

by strangers and citizens from different states of the Union 
as well as the vicinity. 

All which is respectfully submitted by the Council, 

William Lincoln, Committee. 

At an adjourned meeting of the Council of the American 
Antiquarian Society, Oct. 22, 1833, the foregoing report was 
made and adopted as the Report of the Council to be presented 
to the Society on the 23rd of Oct., 1833. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiquarian Society in account with Samuel 
Jennison, Treasurer, on account of the legacy of Isaiah 
Thomas of 12,000 dollars. 

Dr. 

To cash paid the Librarian for salary from April, 1832 to 

Oct. 1833 $900.00 

Balance 12,180.00 

$13,080.00 
Cr. 

By bonds, &c., constituting the said Fund of 12,000 Dollars $12,000.00 
" Interest from April 4, 1832 to Oct. 4, 1833 1,080.00 

$13,080.00 

The American Antiquarian Society in account with Samuel 
Jennison, Treasurer, on account of legacy of N. Maccarty, Esq. 

Dr. 

Oct. 19, 1833. To Balance due the Treasurer on account of 

' receipts and payments to this day $26.90 

Balance 507 . 63 

$534-53 
Cr. 

Oct. 19, 1833. By B. Butman & Go's Note $200.00 

" Interest accrued on " 5 .93 

" Amount loaned to the Building Committee 

March 16, 1832 300.00 

" Interest accrued on same 28.60 

$534-53 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jj 275 

The American Antiquarian Society in account with Samuel 

Jennison, Treasurer, on account of the Residuary Legacy of 

Isaiah Thomas, Esq. 

Dr. 
For amount due to the Fund of 12,000 dollars, being the 

Specific Legacy of Isaiah Thomas. Principal... $195.43 

Interest on the same 11.67 — 207 . 10 

To amount due to the Maccarty Fund. Principal . 300 . 00 

Interest on the same 29 . 28 = 329 . 28 

536.38 
Balance 9334 • 50 



, 70. 
Cr. 

Oct. 19, 1833. By balance of cash in the hands of the 

Treasurer $105 . 08 

" " " " Amount of notes secured by mortgage .. 4050.00 
" " '* " Amount of notes secured by mortgage on 
Estates in Maine estimated balance of 

principal and interest 1000 . 00 

" " " " C. Wheelock and Geo. T. Rice's note. ... 517 .40 

" " " " B. Butman & Co. note 800.00 

" " " " S. M. Burnside's note 400.00 

" " " " J. Coe and T. W. Bancroft's two notes. . 450.00 
" " " " G. Estabrooks, Merrill Davis and David 

Davis' note 300.00 

" " " " Stock in Oxford Bank 400.00 

" " " " I. Thomas' two notes 329.40 

" " " " Interest accrued 319.00 



Property in Walpole, N. H 600.00 

•" in Middlebury, Vt 600.00 

0.88 



Librarian's Report 

Accompanying this report is a list (being the 2nd Volume 
of the Donation Book) of the additions which have been made 
to the Library since the semi-annual meeting of the Society 
in May last. Among them are many books appertaining to 
American History, some of which are very rare. They have 
been derived principally from the hberahty of individuals for 
which suitable acknowledgments have been made. The 
number of volumes thus added is about four hundred, be- 
sides an equal number of unbound pamphlets. 



276 American Antiquarian Society 

All the books and pamphlets in the Library have been 
entered upon the Catalogue, with the exception of the news- 
papers and those presented by the late Rev. Dr. Bentley of 
Salem, which are in the German Language. 

It only remains now to transcribe the Catalogue and cor- 
rect any mistakes that may have been made in describing 
the books. Before doing this, however, it will be necessary 
to bind the pamphlets: — until that shall be done, the Cata- 
logue will be of small service, as there will be no way to find 
them except from memory. 

The number of unbound newspapers in the Library can- 
not be less than seven or eight hundred volumes. Many of 
these are more or less imperfect and great pains have been 
taken to supply the deficiency. Their value is greatly in- 
creased by making the files complete and it is believed that 
it would be unprofitable to bind them until this has been 
accomphshed as far as may be practicable. 

Convenient shelves have been constructed and put up in 
the north wing of the building during the summer for the 
accommodation of books added to the Library within the 
past year, which are now all filled and the want of an ad- 
ditional number is already felt. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

Christopher Colxjmbus Baldwin, 

Librarian of A. A. S. 

The foregoing reports having been read and accepted, it 
was voted to proceed to the choice of officers, and the follow- 
ing gentlemen were elected. 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President. 
Hon. John Davis, ist Vice-Pres. 
Hon. Joseph Story, 2d Vice-Pres. 
Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec. 
Hon. Edward Everett, Foreign Cor. Sec. 
William Lincoln, Domestic Cor. Sec. 
Samuel Jennison, Treasurer. 

Council 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. Samuel M Burnside. 

His Excel'y Levi Lincoln. Frederick W. Paine. 

Edward D. Bangs. Dr. John Green. 

Hon. James C. Merrill. Dr. John Park. 

Rev. Charles Lowell. Joseph Willard, Esq., 

of Boston. 



Meeting of May 28, 1834 277 

Publishing Committee 

William Lincoln. 
Samuel Jennison. 

The following gentlemen were elected members of the 
Society. 

Hon. Francis Xavier Martin, of New Orleans. 

Hon. Thomas S. Grimke, of Charleston, S. C. 

Hon. Edward Livingston, Minister to France. 

Hon. Henry Wheaton, Charge des Affaires at Copenhagen. 

Voted that the Report of the Treasurer be referred to the 
Council to be audited and settled. 
Voted that this meeting be adjourned. 

Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF MAY 28, 1834 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Exchange Coflfee House in Boston on the 28th of May, 
1834, the following proceedings were had.^ 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, being absent from the meet- 
ing through indisposition, the Hon. James C. Merrill was 
made chairman and Christopher Columbus Baldwin ap- 
pointed Secretary pro tem. 

The Report of the Council having been read, it was voted 
to be accepted and that the appropriations therein recom- 
mended be made. 

Report of the Council 

The following is the Report of the Council. The Council 
of the Society, in compHance with the provisions of its Laws 
respectfully submit their semi-annual Report of the con- 
dition of the property, funds and concerns of the Institution. 

The funds of the Society, as appears by the Treasurer's 
Report, which is annexed, amounted on the second day of 
May current to the sum of $22,420.77, principally invested 
in loans to individuals secured by mortgages of real estate 
and in bank stocks, all bearing interest and all safe. 

^ Mr. Baldwin records in his Diary "only four were present, viz.: Edward D. 
Bangs, Hon. James C. Merrill, Mr. [William] Lincoln and myself. We read 
reports and talked miscellaneously, which occupied in all about two hours." 
(Diary of C. C. Baldwin, p. 303.) 



278 American Antiquarian Society 

The sum has been principally derived from the bequest 
of the late Doct'r Isaiah Thomas. One legacy of twelve 
thousand dollars was devised by him to be kept on interest, 
and the interest appropriated in part for the payment of a 
salary to a "Librarian and Cabinet Keeper" and in part 
towards the purchase of antiquities and books and for other 
necessary purposes of the Institution. The Society were 
also made residuary legatees of one fourth part of his estate 
after the payment of debts and legacies, etc., and the sum of 
nine thousand dollars has been received under this bequest. 
To the latter benefaction, the following conditions were an- 
nexed: "That if their said fourth part of the residuum shall 
by the appraisement therein aforementioned amount to the 
sum of seven thousand dollars, they shall put five thousand 
dollars at interest, it being probable that the seven thousand 
dollars in various articles of property may not produce more 
than hve thousand dollars in cash, and shall constantly keep 
said sum at interest and the interest shall be appHed an- 
nually in part to the purchase of books and other articles for 
preservation in the Library and Cabinet of the institution 
and in part to defraying the expenses of employing a proper 
person to explore the ancient fortifications, mounds, etc., in 
the Western States or other parts of America, and in taking 
plans, views, etc., and giving descriptions, etc., of said forti- 
fications, mounds, etc., for the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety, in the manner therein expressed." The specific legacy 
of twelve thousand dollars has been kept by the Treasurer 
distinct from the other funds of the Society, and the in,- 
come thereof has been appropriated according to the direc- 
tion of the donor. To carry fully into effect the intentions 
of the benefactor of the Institution, it seems necessary to 
have distinct action of the Society on the appropriation of 
this portion of the funds. The Council having examined and 
considered the subject, report that, of the residuary legacy 
before mentioned which has amounted to the sum of over 
nine thousand dollars, they have set apart and appropriated 
the sum of five thousand dollars to be kept and invested as a 
distinct fund for the purposes mentioned in said will, and 
they recommend that the sum of fifty dollars annually be 
appropriated for the employment of an agent to explore the 
fortifications, mounds, etc., as directed in said will; such 
appropriation to commence and be taken from the interest 
accruing on said sum of five thousand dollars from the ist 



Meeting of May 28, i8j4 279 

day of January, 1832, when the same was received and in- 
vested on interest. 

The buildings and real estate of the Society in Worcester 
are in good repair and improving condition. 

The Council have inspected the condition of the Library 
and Cabinet as carefully and particularly as the circum- 
stances in which they are placed would admit. Without a 
complete Catalogue, it was not practicable to make a per- 
fect and thorough examination. But they [found the] books 
and specimens in a good state of preservation, and kept in 
neat condition, secure from injury or depredation. 

The detailed Report of the Librarian ^ which is appended 
exhibits so fully the additions which have been made, the 
progress in the great labor of preparing a Catalogue and the 
general condition of the Library as to render a more minute 
statement unnecessary. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

William Lincoln, Committee. 

At a meeting of a Council of the American Antiquarian 
Society, at Worcester, May 26, 1834. Voted to accept and 
present to the Society the foregoing as their semi-annual 
Report. 

Attest, 

Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer's Report 

The legacy 0] twelve thousand\dollars invested in the 
following notes. 

Asahel Albee, Mortgage, $550. Interest, $20.50 $570. 50 

Moses Hayden, Mortgage,! 1000. Interest, $31.67 103 1 .67 

Artemas Ward, Note, $106. Int., $2.87 108 . 87 

John Fessenden, Mortgage, $600. Int., $15.90 615.90 

Jacob Watson 1 

Pariey^Goddard Mortgage $1000. Int., $53.33 1053.33 

David T. Brigham J 

Levi Howe, Note, $100. Int., $2.13 102 . 13 

Jotham Stone, Mortgage, $1000. Int., 20.83 1020.83 

John A. Patch \ 

John Gleason, Jun. > Note, $200. Int., $4.00 204.00 

Lucy Patch ) 

* The report of the Librarian herewith printed after the Treasurer's report 
is not entered in the Record Book, but is taken from the files of the Society. 



28o American Antiquarian Society 

Andrew Patch 

Rebecca Patch -nt * * t .. <3' 

T • T^^^ \ Note, $2C5o. Int., $4.00 204.00 

Lewis Bigelow ' ' ^ ^ 

Lucy Patch J 

l^orge?."Rice} Note, $390. Int., $7.67 397-67 

Calvin Winter, Mortgage, $300. Int., $14.00 314.00 

Enoch Ludden, Mortgage, $300. Int., $4.35 304 -35 

Obadiah Sanger, Mortgage, $300. Int., $3.70 303 . 70 

Benjamin F. Spofford, Mortgage, $200. Int. $2.36 202.36 

James Paine, Mortgage, $150. Int., $6.25 156. 25 

Oliver Wellington, Mortgage, $400. Int., $4.60 404.60 

Edmund Brigham, Mortgage, $550. Int., $5.77 555-77 

Sparrow Crosby, Mortgage, $500. Int., $2.50 502 . 50 

Sparrow Crosby, Mortgage, $500, Int., $0.42 500.42 

Samuel Damon, 2 notes, $300, $480 = $780., Int., $3.90. . 783.90 

John P. Kettell, Note, $150., Int., $0.75 150.75 

J. K. L. Pickford, Mortgage, I500. Int., $2.50 502 . 50 

Turner Fuller, Mortgage, $500. Int., $2.08 502 .08 

Ira Thompson, Mortgage, $600. Int., $1.70 601 . 70 

Benjamin Butman & Co., Note, $190. int., fo.28 190. 28 

Benjamin Butman & Co. Note, $670. Int., $1.00 671 .00 

Blackstone Bank Stock, $500. Int., $17.50 517 . 50 

$12,472.56 

Due from the Residuary Legacy Fund 213 . 65 

$12,686.21 

Deduct amount borrowed from Savings Institution. 400 . 00 

$12,286.21 
Residuary Legacy 

George Allen, Mortgage, $700. Interest, $149.45 $849.45 

George Estabrook ^ 

Merrill Davis > Note, $300. Interest, $10.50 310. 50 

David Davis ) 

E. H. Trowbridge, Mortgage, $300. Interest, $10.13 310. 13 

Clarendon Wheelock )twt4.(B> t .. (S> -_ 

George T.Rice j Note, $517.40. Int., $17.32 534-72 

Jonas Holt, Mortgage, $100. Int., $2.53 102.53 

Curtis Rice, Mortgage, $500. Int., $12.50 512 . 50 

Alfred Torrey, Mortgage, $400. Int., $9.60 409 . 60 

Jacob W. Watson 

kaacDavfs'^^''^ Mortgage, $2000. Int., $106.67 2106.67 

David T. Brigham 

Southworth Rowland, Mortgage, $700. Int., $14.00 714.00 

Abr'm & Jonas Cutting, Mortgage, $600. Int., $11.80 ... 611 .80 

Wm. W. Pratt, Mortgage, $200. Int., $3.33 203 . 33 



Meeting of May 28, 1834 281 

Oliver Wetherby, Mortgage, $300. Int., $4.85 304 • 85 

Levi Green, Mortgage, I150. Int., $2.25 152- 25 

£ W^Bancroft! ^otes, l4So. Int., $6.32 456.5^ 

Benjamin Butman & Co., Note, $800. Int., $1.06 801 .06 

Benjamin Butman & Co., Note, $200. Int., $0.30 200.30 

Oxford Bank Stock, $400. Int., $2.00 402 .00 



52 .21 

Estate in Middlebury in Vermont 600 . 00 

Nath'l Ranney (Fairhaven) note & int 166.00 

Debts due in Dixmont, Me., estimated 1000.00 



$10,784.21 



Deduct amount due Worcester County Institution for 

Savings for money borrowed 400 . 00 

$10,348.21 
Due to the Fund of $1 2,000 ' 213.65 

$10,134.56 

The Treasurer of the American Antiquarian Society reports 
that since the igth of Oct., 1833, he has paid from the funds 
of the Society the following sums: 

To C. C. Baldwin, Esq., Librarian for six months salary to 

April I, 1834 

For postage 

To the executor of Isaac Goodwin, Esq., for services 

To C. C. Baldwin, Esq., for sundry expenses, per order 

To A. Merrifield $1.00 Do. $31.10 per order. . . . 

To Elijah Flagg for wood 

To C. C. Baldwin for Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica 

To C. C. Baldwin for expenses — per order 

To I. Lamb for labor, per order 

$473-37 

And refers to the two Schedules accompanying this report for a 
statement of the present amount of the funds of the Society 
and the mode of investment thereof, viz.: 

Of the Specific Legacy of Isaiah Thomas, Esq. of $12,000. 

Present value $12,286.21 

Of the Residuary Legacy of Isaiah Thomas, Esq., in- 
cluding that of Nath'l Maccarty, Esq., of $500. 

Present value 10,134 ■ 56 

$22,420.77 



$300 


00 


9 


14 


46 


50 


13 


55 


32 


10 


19 


85 


3« 


00 


10 


48 


3 


75 



282 American Antiquarian Society 

Librarian's Report 

The librarian of the American Antiquarian Society asks 
leave to submit the following report : 

At the annual meeting of the Society in October last, the 
Hbrarian indulged in belief that he should be able to com- 
plete the Catalogue of the Hbrary before the semi-annual 
meeting in May. In this expectation, however, he has been 
disappointed. At that time a Hst of nearly all the books had 
been made, and the hbrarian has since been engaged in trans- 
scribing and preparing it for the press. Between the present 
and the meeting in October, he beheves he shall be able to 
complete the transcript and to compare each article men- 
tioned in the Catalogue with each publication in the Hbrary. 
This duty will create much labor, but it is the only method 
that can be adopted that will secure accuracy. 

The principal object of the liberal founder of the Anti- 
quarian Society was that its hbrary should be a place for 
collecting and preserving every variety of book, pamphlet 
and manuscript that might be valuable in illustrating any 
and all parts of American history. In pursuance of the ac- 
complishment of this purpose, the librarian has endeavored 
as far as time and opportunity would allow to procure the 
productions of American authors. During the two years he 
has been connected with the hbrary more than four thousand 
pubhcations of this description have been added to it. These 
have been given to the Society by the kindness and hber- 
ahty of individuals and without expense to the institution. 
And near twelve hundred of this number have been received 
since the meeting in October last. 

It is beHeved that no institution in the country has pro- 
posed to make a collection of the publications of American 
authors ; and it is much to be lamented that the undertaking 
has been deferred to so late a period. A great number of the 
early productions it is feared, are now irrecovably lost. Laud- 
able efforts have been made by indi\dduals, but for want of 
institutions to receive the results of their industry, their 
collections have been scattered and are now of no avail. 
The collection made by the Mathers must have been both 
extensive and valuable. Thomas Prince informs us that he 
began when he was a student in Harvard College, to lay 
"hold on every book, pamphlet, and paper both in print and 
manuscript," that had "any tendency to enhghten our 



Meeting of May 28, 1834 283 

history," and he continued making additions to his collec- 
tions during life. A part of it only is now in existence, by 
far the greater portion of it having been sold at auction in 
the county of Worcester about 1800. 

The only collection, made thus early, that is now in exist- 
ence, is that begun by the celebrated White Kennett, about 
1 701. "The Society for Propagating of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts" was incorporated in that year, and he immediately 
commenced gathering a collection of books, pamphlets, manu- 
scripts and charts relating to America. A catalogue of his 
collections was pubHshed in 1713, under the name of "Biblio- 
thecae Americanae Primordia." 

These cases are mentioned in this connection, because the 
librarian has adopted the same rules which governed them. 
His time, however, heretofore has been too much occupied in 
preparing the catalogue to permit him to bestow so much at- 
tention upon gathering additions to the hbrary as he could 
wish. Various other engagements connected with his place 
inconsiderable in themselves, necessarily occupy a portion 
of each day, which have withheld his attention from this 
interesting part of his duty. 

Since the last meeting arrangements have been made for 
binding the pamphlets. Those which have been bound and 
have been returned by the binder are over two hundred vol- 
umes. They are bound in different series, those in 4to con- 
stituting one series, those in 8vo another and those in i2mo 
another; and the volumes of each series numbered i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 
and so on. In the catalogue, a place is left in margin against 
each pamphlet so that a reference may be made to the vol- 
vune containing the pamphlet, and the particular pamphlet 
called for, may be found without any difficulty. Blank 
leaves are also inserted in each volume for an index or Hst 
of the publications contained in the volume, and the publi- 
cations contained in the volume numbered to correspond 
with the number of the index. A corresponding number is 
entered into the catalogue, so that any pubHcation contained 
in either series of the volumes may be found with readiness 
and certainty. This arrangement has been adopted as the 
most convenient and as that which would prevent mistake 
or confusion. 

The volumes are all neatly bound with backs of Russia 
leather, with sheepskin corners, and marble paper inside and 
outside. The expense attending this mode of binding has 



284 American Antiquarian Society 

been much less than was anticipated, having been done for 
twenty-five cents a volume. 

As the objects of the Society are not local, but general or 
national in their character, the librarian indulges the behef 
that when these objects are generally understood by the 
pubhc, larger additions may be made to the library than 
heretofore. There are great numbers of books, pamphlets, 
maps and manuscripts in every part of the community, 
which would be readily parted with by the individuals possess- 
ing them, if they could find a place to deposit them where 
they could be made useful to the public. And he has adopted 
the plan of collecting the pubHcations of American authors 
as the most comprehensive and presenting at the same time 
the ends and purposes of the institution. Several indi- 
viduals have already furnished nearly complete collections 
of individual copies of their printed productions. Among 
those who have complied with the request of the Hbrarian in 
this respect are the venerable Nathaniel Emmons of Franklin 
(now in his 90th year) whose pubHcations as borne on the 
catalogue now number fifty-three. These are all that could 
be found, but others, if any may be found, can be added to 
the list. 

Mathew Carey, Esq., of Philadelphia has also kindly 
presented between eighty and ninety of his pubHcations, 
with the promise to complete the Hst so far as he may be 
able. The Rev. Pres. Allen of Bowdoin College and Rev. 
Dr. Ware of Harvard University have contributed their 
labors. The Hon. John Q. Adams, Hon. Edw. Everett, and 
the Hon Thomas S. Grimke (of South Carolina) have fur- 
nished nearly complete Hsts of their pubHcations. 

A memorandum of all presents to the library is made with 
the names of benefactors and the librarian would gladly 
embrace them in this report were not the Hst so large as to 
forbid it. Suitable acknowledgments to persons who have 
in any way promoted the interests or purposes of the Society 
have been made, and the librarian cannot conclude this re- 
port without availing himself of the opportunity here oflfered, 
of congratulating the Society upon the increase of the inter- 
est manifested in the pubHc, for the successful efforts and 
labors in the institution in accompHshing the objects con- 
templated by its liberal founder and benefactor. 

Christopher Columbus Baldwin, 
Librarian of American Antiq. Society. 
Worcester, May, 1834. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8j4 285 

The Reports having been read it was voted that William 
Lincoln, C. C. Baldwin and Samuel Jennison be a com- 
mittee to publish such part of the Reports as they may judge 
expedient. 

The following gentlemen were elected members of the So- 
ciety. 

Hon. Gulian C. Verplanck,^ of the City of New York. 

Roberts Vaux, Esq., of Philadelphia. 

Hon. John Bowring, of London, Honorary Member. 

The election of Count Hawks Le Grice, of Rome, who had 
been recommended, was deferred to the meeting in October 
next. 

Voted to adjourn. 

Christopher Columbus Baldwin, Sec. Pro Tern. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1834 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Hall of the Society on the 23d of October, a.d. 1834, the 
following business was transacted.^ 

The President being absent, the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., 
was called to the Chair. 

The Reports of the Council, embracing those of the Treas- 
urer and Librarian, were then read. 

Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, in con- 
formity to the requisitions of the By-Laws, respectfully sub- 
mit their semi-annual Report of the condition of the property, 
funds and concerns of the Society. 

The amount reahzed from certain contingent legacies, 
having been stated in a former Report of the Council, it is 
thought necessary only to add, at present, that, by the Re- 
port of the Treasurer herewith transmitted, it will appear, 
that the whole funds of the Society, on the fifteenth of Octo- 
ber, current, amounted to $22,409.07, securely invested and 

1 Gulian C. Verplanck had been elected a member, Aug. 24, 1820, and had 
written a letter of acceptance, Dec. 12, 1820. 

2 Mr. Baldwin records in his Diary, p. 336, "only one member from out of 
town was present, and that was the Rev. Thomas Robbins of Rochester, Mass. 
We had a full attendance of the members of the Society living in Worcester, 
and everything was conducted harmoniously, except a small jar about the 
publishing committee." 



286 American Antiquarian Society 

bearing interest. The principal part of these funds, con- 
sisting of donations by the founder, the late Doctor Isaiah 
Thomas, and designated by him for specific purposes, the 
Council have adhered to the conditions expressed in his will, 
both in the appropriation of his several legacies, and in the 
disbursements which they have authorized ; — avaihng them- 
selves, Hkewise, of the instructions of the Society, in their 
votes passed at the meeting in Boston, last May. 

The Hall of the Society remains in perfect repair — the 
grounds around it, well protected — and the shrubbery in 
front, thriving and ornamental. 

The Council, withjn the last week, have made the stated 
examination of the books and Cabinet, and found the several 
apartments neat, dry and secure, the arrangement of the 
books much improved, and the Cabinet in good order. The 
collection of books, valuable pamphlets and documents has 
been considerably increased within the last year — by pur- 
chase, by the assiduity of the Librarian, and the hberality 
both of societies and individuals, as will appear by the libra- 
rian's Report, annexed. Of the many recent donations by 
individuals, the Council deem it but just to mention, par- 
ticularly, a very generous present from Thomas Walcutt, 
Esq., of Boston, consisting of above forty hundred pounds 
weight of books and pamphlets, many of them rare, inter- 
esting, and adapted to the leading purposes of the estab- 
lishment.^ 

Finally, the Council, in the discharge of their duties, have 
had the satisfaction of witnessing the general prosperity of 
this patriotic Institution — its rapidly increasing value, and 
the favorable regards, by which its success appears to be ap- 
preciated by the community. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

John Park ] ^ 

Samuel M. BurnsideJ Committee. 

At a meeting of the Council at the Antiquarian Hall on 
the evening of Oct. i8, 1834, it was voted that the foregoing 
Report be adopted and directed that the same be offered to 
the Society at its [meeting] to be held in this place on the 
23rd inst. 

Attest, Christopher Columbus Baldwin, 

Secretary J pro tern, to the Council. 

1 For Mr. Baldwin's interesting account of his packing and shipping this 
collection and a description of the donor see his Diary, pp. 317-325. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8j4 287 

Treasurer's Report 

The Treasurer of the American Antiquarian Society reports 
that since the 2d Day of May, i8j4, the date of his last Re- 
port, he has paid on account of the Society the following sums: 
viz. 

To C. C. Baldwin, Librarian, for 6 months, to Oct., 

1834 $300.00 

May 15. C. Harris for stationery, &c 1561 

" 26. C. C. Baldwin for books purchased 23 . 75 

" " C. C. Baldwin for purchase of books 15. 00 

June. 6. William Lincoln, Esq., for books purchased of him . 167 . 50 

July 3. Jubal Harrington, Esq., Post Master 4. 79 

" 31. C. C. Baldwin for expenses since Jan'y 23 .03 

Aug. 14. C. C. Baldwin for expense of trans'porting the Wal- 

cutt Library from Boston, &c 19 • 38 

" 25. S. H. Colton, &c., for advertising meetings 2 . 50 

" 28. C. C. Baldwin for personal expenses, &c. , at Boston 
on account of the Donation of Thomas Wallcut, 

Esq 21 .00 

Sept. 30. Dorr & Howland for binding books 66 . 00 

$658.56 

And refers to a Schedule annexed, as exhibiting the amount, and 
mode of investment of the funds of the Society; and to his 
general account current, also annexed, for further particulars. 
Oct. IS, 1834. 

S. Jennison, 

Treasurer. 

Investment of the Funds of the American Antiquarian Society 
Oct. 15, 1834 

George Estabrook, Merrill Davis & David Davis Note $300 . 00 

Obadiah Sanger Mortgage 300 . 00 

Artemas Ward's Note 106 . 00 

Levi Howe's Note 100 . 00 

Simeon Burt and George T. Rice Note 390 . 00 

Oliver Wetherby's Mortgage 300 .00 

Enoch Ludden's Mortgage 300 . 00 

John Coe and T. W. Bancroft's two notes 450 . 00 

Samuel Damon two notes 780.00 

John P. Kettell & Go's two notes 150.00 

E. H. Trowbridge [F. S. Graves] Mortgage 300.00 

George Allen Mortgage 700 . 00 

Moses Hayden Mortgage 1000 . 00 

Benjamin Butman & Co. three notes 1190.00 

John Fessenden Mortgage 600 . 00 

Curtis Rice Mortgage 500 . 00 

Alfred Torrey [Amasa Wood] Mortgage 400.00 



288 



American Antiquarian Society 



Jacob W. Watson and others Note and Mortgage . . . 

Jotham Stone Mortgage 

Southworth Rowland Mortgage 

Andrew Patch, Rebecca & Lucy Patch & L. Bigelow . 

John A. & Lucy Patch & John Gleason Jun. Note. . . 

Ab'm & Jonas Cutting Mortgage 

Calvin Winter 

William W. Pratt 

Levi Green 

Benjamin F. Spofford 

Oliver Wellington 

James Pierce 

Edmund Brigham 

Asahel Albee 

Sparrow Crosby two notes and Mortgages 

J. K. L. Pickford two notes and mortgages 

Turner Fuller [Logis] Mortgage 

Clarendon Wheelock & Geo. T. Rice Note 

Ira Thompson Mortgage 

Jonas Holt's Mortgage 

Stock in Blackstone Bank 

Stock in Oxford Bank 

Estate in Middlebury, Vt., estimated at 

Nath'l Ranney's Note in the Hands of H. Bell, Esq 

Debts due on Mortgages in Dixmont, Me., estimated at. 
Cash on hand 



3000 . 00 

1000.00 
700.00 
200.00 
200.00 
600 . 00 
300.00 
200 . 00 
150.00 
200 . 00 
400.00 
150.00 
450.00 
550 00 

1000.00 
500 . 00 
500.00 
51740 
600.00 
100.00 
500 . 00 
400 . 00 
600 . 00 
166.00 

1000 . 00 
124.25 

$21,973.65 
435-42 

$22,409.07 
Samuel Jennison, 

Treasurer. 

Samuel Jennison, Treasurer, in account with the American 
Antiquarian Society, Dr. 

Dr. 
For amount of the Legacy of Isaiah Thomas, Esq., for thej 

support of a Librarian and other purposes ) $12,000.00 

For amount of the Residuary Legacy of I. Thomas, Esq., 1 

together with that of N. Maccarty Esq., of $500 remaining ^ 

unexpended ' 9973 . 65 

For interest accrued on the above to Oct. 15, 1834, but not 

received : . . . . 435-42 



Interest to Oct. 15, 1834 



Cr. 

By Librarian's Fund. Principal 

Income beyond the amount paid for Librarian's 
salary to Oct. i, 1834, remaining imappro- 
priated 

By funds for the purchase of books and general 
research, set apart agreeably to the provi- 
sions of the will of I. Thomas, Esq 



$22,409.07 



) 1 2,000.00 



300. 00 =$12,300. 00 



Meeting of October 2j, i8j4 289 

Portion of the income of the same appro- 
priated for surveys, &c., but not expended 

to Oct. I, 1834. . 137-50 = 5137.50 

By balance of funds in the hands of the Treas- ■ 

^^^ 4971.57 

Oct. 15, 1834. 



$22,409.07 



Samuel Jennison, 

Treasurer. 



The Librarian's Report having been given to the publish- 
ing committee for pubhcation, and having been destroyed in 
the printing office where it was left, is the reason for its not 
being here recorded. The greater part of it was printed in 
the newspapers.^ 

Librarian's Report 

The Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society asks 
leave to submit the following Report : — - 

One of the principal objects of the Hberal founder of the 
American Antiquarian Society was that its Library should 
be a place for collecting and preserving every variety of 
book, pamphlet, map or manuscript that might be valuable 
in illustrating any and all parts of American history. In pur- 
suance of the accompKshment of this purpose, the Librarian 
has endeavored, as far as circumstances would allow, to 
procure the productions of American authors and such works 
as would add most to the value of the collections. The ad- 
ditions made since the last meeting are numerous and have 
increased very much both the value and interest of the 
Library. Accompanying this report is a list of everything 
which has been added since the last meeting in May, with the 
exception of the very valuable present from the venerable 
Mr. Wallcut of Boston. This collection is so extensive that 
the Librarian has not had sufficient time to reduce it to order, 
or to make a catalogue of the individual pubhcations com- 
prised in it. He proposes to attend to this duty, however, 
at an early day, when distinct information in relation to its 
character and value shall be furnished. 

It is believed that no institution in the country has pro- 
posed to make a collection of the productions of American 

^ It was printed in the Boston Weekly Messenger, November 6, 1834, and 
from that source is here reprinted. It is, however, largely a repetition of the 
May report. 



290 American Antiquarian Society 

authors, and it is much to be lamented that an undertaking 
of so much public importance should have been delayed to 
so late a period. Great numbers, it is feared, of our early 
pubHcations are now irrecoverably lost. Most of these were 
in the pamphlet form, and by far the greater portion of our 
early American Kterature is found only in this shape. It is 
beHeved that this statement is generally true of the whole 
period embraced between the early settlement of the United 
States and the termination of the Revolutionary War. One 
cause for this may be found in the expense of printing, which 
was always much greater in the colonies than in Europe; nor 
were there any large hbraries to which literary men, however 
much disposed to become authors, might resort for compiUng 
elaborate treatises. The consequence has been that, until 
within comparatively a recent period, our early literature of 
every kind is principally to be found in small tracts and 
single essays. And owing to the preference which has been 
too generally given to Enghsh or European books over those 
of American origin, our libraries are very deficient in the pro- 
ductions of our own authors. Laudable efforts have been 
made by individuals to accomphsh do desirable an objects, 
but for want of appropriate institutions to receive the re- 
sults of their industry, their collections have been scattered 
and are now irrecoverably lost. The collections made by 
the Mathers must have been both extensive and valuable. 
Thomas Prince informs us that when he was in college he be- 
gan to lay "hold on every book, pamphlet and paper both in 
print and manuscript" that had "any tendency to enhghten 
our history" and he continued making additions to his col- 
lections to the close of his Hfe. A part only of this Ubrary is 
now in existence, a very considerable portion of it ha\ang 
been sold at auction in this country about 1800. The only 
collection made thus early that now remains is that began by 
the celebrated White Kennett, in 1701. In this year the 
Society for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 
was incorporated, and he inmiediately began to collect every 
book, pamphlet and paper that related to this country. A 
catalogue of them was pubHshed in 1713, under the name of 
" Bibliothecae Americanae Primordia." 

These cases are mentioned in this connection because the 
Librarian has adopted the same plan in making additions to 
the Library that governed them. His time, however, has 
been too much occupied heretofore in preparing the catalogue 



Meeting of October 25, i8j4 291 

to permit him to bestow so much attention upon enlarging the 
collections as he desired. And as the institution is general 
or national in its design, it is believed that when its objects 
are more generally understood by the public larger additions 
will be made to it than heretofore. There are many books 
and tracts in every part of the community, which would be 
readily parted with by the individuals possessing them if 
they could find a place to deposit them where they could be 
made useful to the pubhc. And he has adopted the plan of 
collecting the productions of American Authors, as the most 
comprehensive, and presenting at the same time the general 
ends and purposes of the Society. 

A memorandum of all presents to the Society is made, 
with the names of donors, and the librarian would gladly 
embrace them in this report, were not the list so long as to 
forbid it. Suitable acknowledgements to those who have in 
any way promoted the interests or purposes of the Institu- 
tion have been made, and the Librarian cannot conclude this 
report without availing himself of the occasion of congratu- 
lating the Society upon the increased interest manifested 
in the public for the successful efforts and labors of the Insti- 
tution in accomplishing the objects contemplated by its liberal 
founder and benefactor. 

Christopher Columbus Baldwin. 
Worcester, Oct. 12, 1834. 



The Report of the Council and also the Reports of the 
Treasurer and Librarian, having been read, were accepted. 

His Excellency John Davis, Vice-President, came in and 
took the Chair. 

Voted that the Society proceed to the choice of such gentle- 
men to membership as have been recommended by the Coun- 
cil, and the following persons were unanimously elected. 

M. Cesar Moreau, of Paris, France. j Honorarv Members 
George W. Erving, of Paris, France, j ^'^'^<^^y ^emoers. 
Charles Frazer, Esq., Charleston, S. C. 
Obadiah Rich, Esq., London., Honorary Member. 

Voted to proceed to the choice of officers, and the following 
gentlemen were elected unanimously — 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President. 
His Ex'y John Davis, ist Vice-President. 
Hon. Joseph Story, 2d Vice-President. 



292 American Antiquarian Society 

Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 
Hon. Edward Everett, For. Cor. Secretary. 
William Lincoln, Esq., Dom. Cor. Sec. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq., Treasurer. 

Council 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln. Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 

Hon. Edward D. Bangs. Dr. John Green, M.D. 

Hon. James C. Merrill. Dr. John Park, M.D. 

Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. Joseph Willard, Esq. 

Voted that the Committee of Publication consist of three 
and the follovdng gentlemen were elected. 

William Lincoln, Esq. 
George Folsom, Esq. 
Alfred D. Foster, Esq. 

Voted that the Publishing Committee be directed to pub- 
lish in the new^spapers such portions of the Reports this day 
made as they may think proper. 

The meeting was then dissolved. 

Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



MEETING OF MAY 27, 1835 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Exchange Coffee House in Boston on Wednesday, May 
27, 1835.1 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 

The Secretary read the Reports of Council, of the Libra- 
rian and of the Treasurer, which were severally accepted and 
ordered to be placed on the files of the Society .^ 

On motion of the Rev. Mr. Robbins — Voted, That a suit- 
able acknowledgment be made by the Society to the proper 
authority for the volumes of the Pubhcation of the Record 
Commission presented to the Society. 

Voted to proceed to ballot for the admission of C. P. Cooper, 
Esq., of London as an honorary member of the Society. 

* Mr. Baldwin in his Diary says "Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, Hon. Judge 
Merrill, Hon. Benjamin Russell, Hon. Rejoice Newton, Rev. Dr. Charles 
Lowell, Rev. Thomas Robbins of Rochester, Frederick W. Paine, Rev. Mr. Hill 
and S. M. Burnside, Esq., of Worcester were the members present." 

^ These reports are not recorded but those of the Council and Treasurer are 
on file and that of the Librarian was printed in the Boston Courier, May 29, 
1834. They are printed at the end of the records of this meeting. 



Meeting of May 27, iSj^ 293 

Mr. Cooper is unanimously elected. 

On motion of the Rev. Dr. Lowell — Voted, That the pub- 
lication of a Catalogue of the Library be referred to the 
Council at Worcester, with a request to them to pubHsh the 
same as soon as conveniently may be, and that they do not 
delay the publication for the purpose of publishing any ad- 
ditions to the Library which shall be made of [sic] the first 
of October next. 

Voted, That the Report of the Librarian be published. 

Voted to dissolve this meeting.^ 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report or the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society beg 
leave to submit the following semi-annual Report. 

It is believed that the funds of the institution are in a safe 
and prosperous condition, being well invested and secured. 
The accompanying Report submitted by the Treasurer will 
furnish a general information of their present amount and 
condition. It appears that a further addition has been re- 
cently made to them from the estate of the founder of the 
Society, Mr. Thomas, amounting to the sum of one thousand 
and eight hundred and thirty one dollars and eighty-five 
cents. This sum was paid over by the executors on the first 
of May, and is a portion of the residue of Mr. Thomas's 
estate, directed by his will to be paid to the Society. 

The other property of the institution is in good condition. 
The books in the library have been recently arranged, ac- 

1 The following letter from President Winthrop seems to have established 
the custom, since usually followed, of an annual entertainment by the President. 

Boston, May i8th 1835. 
Dear Sir : — 

There is to be, as you know, a meeting of the American Anti- 
quarian Society on the 27th instant, on which day I hope to have the pleasure 
of your company, and that of all the gentlemen from Worcester who may attend 
said meeting, to dine with me; and I pray you will have the goodness to present 
to each individual gentleman my most respectful compliments, and request 
this favor. My much respected friend the Rev'd Dr. Bancroft usually attends 
our meetings, and I hope he will do me the favor to dine with me. 

Be pleased to let me hear from you by Monday's mail. Excuse the trouble 
I am giving you and believe me to remain, 

D'r Sir, Your friend, 

and obed't serv't, 

Thos. L. Winthrop. 
To Christopher Columbus Baldwin, Esq. 



294 American Antiquarian Society 

cording to subjects. Their general appearance has been 
greatly improved by many of them having been put in new 
binding. Several new cases have also been erected to ac- 
commodate the additions which have been made during the 
last year. 

It appears from the volimie containing the donations that 
the Council have occasion to congratulate the Society upon 
the increasing prosperity of the institution. The additions 
made by the HberaHty of individuals as well as pubhc bodies, 
are both large and valuable. 

A catalogue of the Hbrary is now nearly completed. It 
is alphabetical in its arrangement and similar to that of the 
College Library at Cambridge. As it may be probably ready 
for the press between this time and the next meeting, it may 
be proper to take the direction of the Society in relation to 
it. On some accounts it is desirable that it should be pub- 
lished at as early a day as possible, and on others that it 
should be postponed. The rapid increase of the library is 
such that, in some departments, the deficiencies now existing, 
may be supplied, and to the accompUshment of this object it 
will be necessary to postpone the publication of it for a few 
months. The employment of the funds as the interest has 
accrued in binding pamphlets and periodicals, has placed the 
means of the Society in such condition as to make it neces- 
sary that the publication should be delayed for a season. 
This will afford opportunity for revising and correcting and 
suppljdng many deficiencies in some of the departments of 
the library. 

Which is respectfully submitted by 

Frederick W. Paine, 

for the Committee. 
Worcester, May 22, 1835. 

At a meeting of the Council of the American Antiquarian 
Society held at Antiquarian Hall on the evening of Friday, 
May 22, 1835, the foregoing Report having been read by F. 
W. Paine, Esq., one of the Committee appointed for making 
the same, it was voted that the same be adopted by the 
Council and presented to the Society at the meeting to be 
held in Boston on the 27th inst. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g. Sec'y. 



Meeting of May 27, 18 jj 295 

Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiquarian Society with Sani'l Jennison, 
Treas. on acc't of the General Fund 
Dr. 

183 1 

May 21. To cash paid to constitute a fund for the support 
of a Ubrarian to be equal to |i 2,000 on the 4th 
April, 183 2 $11 ,396 . 00 

1835 

May 10. To cash paid to constitute a fund for the purchase 
of books and general research of 1 5000 with 

interest from Jan. i, 1832 6,078 .31 

Balance 4,977 91 



Cr. 



$22,452.22 

By cash of the Ex'rs of N. Maccarty, Esq. ($500) 

and other small sums rec'd 1832 579 . 78 

By cash of the Executors of I. Thomas, Esq. 

1831 $11,396.00 

1833 8,644.59 

May, 1835 1,831.85 21,872.44 

$22,452.22 
Dr. 

To notes $3901 . 86 

To cash on hand 17.81 

To expenses paid from Jan. 11, 1830 to May 11, 

1835 2102 . 18 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

$6421.85 

By amount of Gen. Fund, balance, unappro- 
priated $4977 • 91 

By interest accrued 1433 . 94 

$6421.85 

The Am. Antiq'n Society with S. Jennison, Treas., on acc't of 



Cr. 



Dr. 



Cr. 



^f£M>' 



Librarian's Fund. 

To notes $11,686.00 

Bank Stock (Blackstone) 500 . 00 

$12,186.00 

By cash rec'd, May 21, 183 1 $11,396.00 

Profit and Loss balance rec'd after paying Libra- 
rian's salary (for interest to) Apr. 2, 1835 684. 10 

By interest rec'd since Apr. 2 97-78 

Cash, balance due the Treas 8.12 

$12,186.00 



296 American Antiquarian Society 

The Am. Antiq'n Society with S. Jennison, TreasW on account 
of Fund oj 5,000 dollars 
Dr. 

To cash in the hands of the Treas $45 . 58 

To notes 5800 . 00 

To interest accrued but not rec'd 232 . 73 

$6,078.31 
Cr. 

1835 

May II. By amount appropriated according to the direc- 
rection of the will of I. Thomas, viz., $5000, 
Jan. 1, 1832 with int. to this time $6078.31 

$6078.31 
Samuel Jennison, Treas. 
May 16, 1835. 



Librarian's Report 

The Librarian has been principally engaged since the last 
meeting, in October, in adding to the Catalogue the pam- 
phlets presented to the Library by Mr. Wallcut. This labor 
is now finished, and the greater part of them are arranged 
in volumes, and already in the hands of the binder. When 
bound they will make, very nearly if not quite, live hundred 
volumes. Each volume is accommodated with blank paper 
for an index to the pamphlets contained in it, and as far as 
practicable, the pubHcations of the same author are ar- 
ranged together in chronological order. This method of ar- 
rangement has been foimd convenient in making the Cata- 
logue, and makes a reference to the productions of the same 
author easy and certain. 

The collection of New-England Literature in the Library, 
is now highly respectable. Of the more voluminous writers, 
ancient as well as modern, we have very full Usts both of 
books and pamphlets. Almost the whole of Mr. WaUcut's 
donation was of this description. He appears to have exer- 
cised the most untiring diligence in the collection of early 
American Literature, and so valuable are the additions made 
by his kind hberahty to the Society, that one may say of 
them as John Bale^ did of the collections of that most famous 
Antiquary, John Selanel: — "No smal dyscommodyte were it 
now to this lande, yf these his worthy labours should after 

• 1 Author of "Catalogue of the Illustrious Writers of Great Britain." 



Meeting of May 27, iSj^ 297 

any yll sort perishe. For out of them myght men of sondry 
occupienges, fatch most wonderful knowledge, for their 
necessary affayres every where. And the more common to 
mannes use, any good thyng is made, the more profitable and 
precyouse it is. So wele is he worthy of perpetuall fame that 
bringeth a good work to lyghte, as is he that fiyrst did make 
it, and ought alwaies to be reckoned the second father thereof." 

The additions made to the Library since the last meeting 
have been greater than those of any preceding similar period, 
since 1832. An account of them may be found in the dona- 
tion book, and the Librarian would gladly include the de- 
tailed list in this report were not the length of it such as to 
prevent it. The contributions by individuals have been both 
numerous and valuable, as well as those by public bodies. 
Of this last character, the most acceptable addition that has 
been made is that of the pubHcations of the Record Com- 
mission by the British Government. As these volumes have 
been examined by the members of the Council, as well as by 
the Society generally, and as accurate and interesting ac- 
counts of them have been frequently given to the public, any 
particular notice of them in this report may be superfluous. 
They present an interesting monument of the generous hber- 
ality of the government which gave them, and from the fact 
that twenty other institutions in different parts of the United 
States have received complete sets of copies of the same 
works, it furnishes the most gratifying evidence of the ex- 
istence of kind and Hberal sentiments towards this country. 
And it is greatly to be hoped that nothing may occur which 
shall hereafter interrupt a feeling which both countries have 
so much interest to cherish; but on the contrary that our 
General Government imitating the generous example already 
given, may send back to the venerable institutions of the 
land of our ancestors, a corresponding mark of reciprocal 
feeling and gratitude. 

The legislatures of several of the States have passed laws 
or resolves, by which copies of their statutes and journals are 
given to the Library of the Society. In compUance with 
these provisions, there has been received since the last meet- 
ing, the laws of Louisiana, New-Hampshire, and Massa- 
chusetts. 

Various literary and charitable associations have liberally 
contributed to our collections. From the American Bible 
Society has been received forty-two different editions of the 



298 American Antiquarian Society 

Bible and Testament, translated into different American and 
European languages. The British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety has furnished a complete series of its annual Reports 
from 1805 to the present time. The American Education 
Society has presented a copy of the volumes of its Quarterly 
Register and all its Reports, but one. The Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions have transmitted a perfect 
set of the Panoplist and Missionary Herald from 1807 to 
1834, in twenty-nine volumes. The transactions of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society (vol. 3 and 4, n.s.), and those of 
New-Hampshire and Virginia have also been received. The 
American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia has also sent 
a collection of books and pamphlets; twenty volumes in 
quarto, thirty five volumes in 8vo. and i2mo., and several 
hundred pamphlets.^ 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

Christopher Columbus Baldwin, 

Librarian. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1835 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on Friday, October 23, 1835, 
at ten o'clock a.m. 

Hon. John Davis, Vice-President, in the Chair. 

The semi-annual Report of the Council was read and 
ordered to be placed on file and recorded. 

The Report of the Treasurer was read and committed to 
a committee, who are requested to report thereon at the next 
meeting of the Council. 

Chose Hon. Daniel Waldo and Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., 
said committee. 

Voted to proceed to the choice of officers for the ensuing 

year. Chose : 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President. 
Hon. John Davis, ist Vice-President. 
Hon. Joseph Story, 2d Vice-President, 
Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 
Edward Everett, Foreign Corres^g Secretary. 

' Mr. Baldwin neglects to state that in January the Boston Athenaeum pave 
to this Society its choice from its collection of duphcate pamphlets which 
Mr. Baldwin in his Diary estimated at ten thousand in number. The catalogue 
of the pamphlets selected by Mr. Baldwin is in the Society's library. See 
Baldwin's Diary, pp. 259-269. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jj 299 

William Lincoln, Domestic Cones' g Sec'y. 
Samuel Jennison, Treasurer. 

Counsellors — Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. 
Hon. Edward D. Bangs. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Samuel M. Burnsede, Esq. 
Fred. W. Paine, Esq. 
DocT. John Green. 
DocT. John Park. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 

Publishing Committee — Docx. John Park. 

George Folsom, Esq. 
Alfred D. Foster, Esq. 

Voted, That the Council be directed to procure a portrait 
of the late Christopher C. Baldwin, Esq., late Librarian, for 
the use of the Society.^ 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, as re- 
quired by the the By-laws of the Institution, respectfully 
submit the following semi-annual Report relating to the 
funds, Ubrary and concerns of the Institution. 

In the investments of the funds and the pledges by which 
they are secured there has been no material change since the 
Report communicated on the 2 2d of May last. About 
$130.00 accruing from a payment on a mortgage of some 
land in Maine left by the founder of the Society, have been 
added to the general property on interest, also a surplus of 
income remaining in the hands of the Treasurer after meet- 
ing the regular disbursements of the institution, so that the 
whole funds now bearing interest amount to about $24,000, 
as will appear by the Treasurer's Report hereunto annexed. 

The Library has been generally inspected and found to be 
in good order — a minute examination has not been practi- 
cable, owing to the want of a complete Catalogue, which is 
now nearly ready for the press. Five hundred volumes of 
pamphlets, selected principally from the donation of Mr. 
Wallcut have been added within six months to the shelves, 

* This portrait by Chester Harding now hangs in the Librarian's room. 



300 American Antiquarian Society 

neatly bound and arranged with as much system as their 
miscellaneous contents would admit. Contributions from 
individuals and societies continue to increase its value and 
usefulness; among these the Council feel it incumbent upon 
them to mention particularly a donation of four large folio 
volumes generously presented by the Hon. Thomas L. Win- 
throp, President of the Society, entitled "Doomsday Book," 
and constituting a part of the voluminous series of docu- 
ments published by order of the British Government, but 
wanting in the set lately given by that government to the 
American Antiquarian Society. 

A second volume of papers, relating to the objects for which 
the Institution was founded, is in the press, the largest con- 
tribution to which is from the able pen of the Hon. Albert 
Gallatin, who has for many years been devotedly engaged in 
investigating the aboriginal languages of our country.^ 

The Hall, both internally and externally, remains secure 
from injury. The evergreens, selected by the taste, and many 
of them planted by the hand of the late lamented Librarian,^ 
form an interesting ornament to the neat and pleasantly 
situated structure; their perennial verdure is a fit symbol of 
the memory of that excellent officer, as cherished by the many 
who enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance, and most 
particularly by those, who from ofl&cial association, inti- 
mately knew his merits and his worth. 

The Council cannot close this report without further 
observing, that while the Institution appears in every other 
respect successful and prosperous, the privation just alluded 
to is felt by them as a deep calamity, and, perhaps, irreparable 
loss. The unexpected dispensation of Providence, by which 
Mr. Baldwin was brought to a premature and instantaneous 
death, has deprived the Society of the services of a Librarian, 
whose singular qualifications for the station he occupied, were 
the theme of frequent and general admiration. His assiduity 
in more than duty, was rapidly augmenting the valuable col- 
lections of the Society, and his polite and kindly intercourse 

* Two reports from the Committee of Publication to the Council and one 
to the Society are printed at the end of this report, being taken from the Society's 
files. 

^ Christopher C. Baldwin died August 20, 1S35, being killed by a coach 
accident whUe traveling in Ohio in the interests of the Society. His place was 
filled temporarily by Maturin L. Fisher. At this meeting William Lincoln deUv- 
ered an address upon his character and services, which was published by the 
Society in a pamphlet of 19 pages, and is here reprinted after the records of this 
meeting. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8j^ 301 

with the numerous strangers, whom the growing reputation 
of the Institution induced to visit it, was spreading its pop- 
ularity throughout the Union. Feeling the importance of a 
deliberate and judicious selection, the Council have deemed 
it inexpedient, as yet, to proceed to the choice of a successor; 
but as many respectable applications are now before the Board, 
and it is of consequence that the vacancy should be soon sup- 
phed, it is probable the Council about to be selected, will take 
the subject into early consideration. All which is respectfully 
submitted. 

S. M.^Burnside|^"^^'*^^''- 
Worcester, Oct. 21, 1835. 

At a meeting of the Council of the American Antiquarian 
Society at Antiquarian Hall on the evening of October 21, 
1835, it was voted — That the foregoing report be adopted 
and offered to the Society at its annual meeting to be held in 
this place on the 23d inst. as the Report of the Council. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Committee of Publication 

To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society 
Gentlemen : 

The Committee of Publication of the American Antiquarian 
Society, for the current year, beg leave to report to you what 
progress has been made in the preparation of materials for a 
second volume of papers and transactions of the Society. 

Soon after their appointment, a majority of the Com- 
mittee took measures to ascertain what papers were already 
in the possession of the Society, and what other valuable 
materials could be procured. 

The Society already possessed Gookin's History of the 
Praying Indians, for which Mr. S. G. Drake has since kindly 
furnished notes, to elucidate various parts; Gov. DeWitt 
CHnton's Essay on Leaden plates deposited by the French 
in the West; Gov. Winthrop Sargent's letter on the Earth- 
quakes of 181 2 in the West; Dr. Holmes's Essay on European 
Monuments in America; an account of Bacon's Rebellion in 
Virginia — these all seemed worthy of publication. In ad- 



302 American Antiquarian Society 

dition to these a member of the Council (S. M. Burnside, 
Esq.,) has prepared a Memoir of the founder of the Society, 
Dr. Thomas, a tribute of respect which the Society's next 
volume should bear to his memory. 

The Hon. John Davis will furnish an account of the early 
history of the courts in Massachusetts. And the Hon. 
Albert Gallatin has nearly prepared for pubhcation an Essay 
on the languages, domestic economy, etc., of the Indians of 
North America. In a letter to Mr. Folsom, dated 23rd May, 
1835, he says, "I have received yours of the 20th inst., and 
return my thanks for the words extracted from Wood's Pros- 
pect. As I have made up my mind to spend, if my health 
permit, the two first weeks of August in Boston and its vicin- 
ity, I will not give you the trouble of sending me any further 
extracts or books, unless some difiiculty should occur of which 
I will give you notice." 

It is understood that he will then complete the Essay and 
there can be little doubt that a sufiicient amount of matter, 
to constitute a volume, will be ready for the press by the 
middle of August or first of September. 

The number of pages is estimated as follows : — 

Memoir of Thomas 15 

Gookin's History & notes 1 50 

Clinton's Essay 10 

Sargent's Letter 20 

Holmes's Essay 25 

Bacon's Rebellion 40 

Gallatin's Essay 100 but may exceed 

Davis on the Courts 30 

390 pages 

The first volume contains 436 pages. The estimated cost 
of 500 copies, as furnished by L. Shattuck (a member of the 
Society) is four hundred dollars. 

It is proper to remark that the labor of the committee in 
preparing and procuring these papers has been wholly per- 
formed by Mr. Folsom. It is known to the Council that 
Mr. William Lincoln early withdrew from the committee and 
the other member has done nothing more than look over the 
papers and advise with Mr. Folsom. He, therefore, is alone 
entitled to whatever credit, if any, may be attached to the 
services of the committee. Mr. F. is now absent and this 
communication is made by the other member of the com- 



Meeting of Ocloher 2j, iSj^ 303 

mittee that no unnecessary delay may occur in publishing 
the volume proposed. 

Very respectfully, 

A. D. Foster. 
Worcester, July 27, 1835. 



To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society 

The Committee of Publication beg leave to submit the fol- 
lowing statement : 

In consequence of the length of Mr. Gallatin's Memoir on 
the Indian Languages, etc., several of the articles reported 
at a former meeting as in readiness for publication, will be 
necessarily excluded from the volume for want of room. 

It has been the desire of the committee to act in concur- 
rence with the views of the Council in a matter on which the 
reputation of the Society so much depends; and under- 
standing that some difference of opinion existed as to the ex- 
pediency of publishing Gov. Sargent's historical description 
of the earthquakes on the Mississippi in 181 2, and also the 
original account of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, a copy of 
which, as discovered by the committee, had appeared in the 
Richmond Enquirer about the time the original was for- 
warded by President Jefferson to Dr. Thomas, the committee 
have returned those papers to the files of the Society. 

The committee have contracted with the University 
printer at Cambridge (from whose press the recent volumes 
of the Mass. Historical Society proceeded) for the printing of 
the volume, which he has already commenced. The edition 
will consist of 500 copies, of 450 pages each, 8vo. at the cost 
of $468.50. An original Map drawn by Mr. Gallatin, show- 
ing the locahties of the Indian tribes, will form an additional 
item of $65.00. The binding of the volumes is not included 
in the above estimate. A considerable portion of the Indian 
Memoir, comprising the vocabularies, will be more difficult of 
execution than ordinary matter, and therefore more ex- 
pensive. 

The undersigned begs leave to inform the Council, that a 
copy of Doomsday Book, pubHshed by the British Govern- 
ment, has been purchased of Harvard College (being a dupli- 
cate in their library), by the Hon'ble Thomas L. Winthrop, 
President of the Society, and presented to this Library, to 



bociety, ai 






304 American Antiquarian Society 

supply a deficiency in the set of public records, the recent 
donation of the British Government. This copy of Dooms- 
day Book was imported by Harvard College several years 
since, and has now been purchased at the price of $50.00, for 
the hberal purpose above mentioned. At the request of 
Gov. Winthrop, the undersigned has procured the work from 
the College, and caused it to be forwarded to this place. 
In behalf of the Committee of Publication. 

George Folsom. 
Worcester, Octo. 13, 1835. 



Report of the Publishing Committee, Octo. 23, 1835. 

The committee have the gratification of reporting, that 
arrangements have been made for the immediate publication 
of a second volume, and that the printing has been com- 
menced at the University Press in Cambridge. It is intended 
that the volume shall consist of 450 pages, 8vo, and contain 
the following articles, viz. 

1. A Memoir of Dr. Thomas, the founder and first presi- 
dent of the Society. 

2. Gookin's History of the Praying Indians of Massachu- 
setts, illustrated with notes by Messrs. Drake and Shattuck, 
who are well known to be conversant with that portion of 
aboriginal history. 

3. An elaborate Memoir on the Languages, General His- 
tory and Economy of the Indian tribes in the United States, 
by the Hon'ble Albert Gallatin. This Memoir was origi- 
nally prepared by its distinguished author at the request of 
Baron Alex. Humboldt, at Paris, but was never pubHshed, 
altho' cited in MS. by Balbi in his late Ethnographical 
Atlas,^ through which a knowledge of the work came to the 
committee and led to an application to the author for the 
privilege of pubhshing it in the proposed volume. The 
application was not only successful, but Mr. Gallatin has 
bestowed immense labor and great expense in revising and 
enlarging the work and preparing it for the press. For this 
purpose, he has, during the past summer, visited Boston and 
Worcester, and for several months employed the assistance 
of an amanuensis. The greater part of the Memoir is now 

1 Adriano Balbi published the first volume of his Ethnographical Atlas 
in 1S26. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jj 305 

ready for the press, and the author has assured the com- 
mittee within the present week, that the remainder will be 
finished as soon as wanted by the printer. 

4. Should there be room in the volume, a recent letter 
from Colonel Gaiindo, a late diplomatic functionary from the 
Gov't of Central America, addressed to President Winthrop, 
on the antiquities of that portion of our continent, will be 
pubHshed. 

5. It is also hoped that space will be left for a brief memoir 
on the Monumental Leaden Plates, deposited in our frontiers 
at an early period, by order of the French Government, from 
the pen of the late DeWitt Clinton, of New York, and com- 
municated by him to this Society. It is also desired by the 
committee that the volume may contain a notice of the late 
deeply lamented Librarian of the Society, whose untimely 
and melancholy fate has left a dreary void amongst us, which 
it is no disparagement to the living to say, cannot be soon 
supplied. 

Messrs. Russell, Odiorne & Co., booksellers, Boston, have 
made proposals to the committee to act as publishers of the 
volume, for a reasonable commission on the copies they may 
sell, or cause to be sold, and have suggested the expediency 
of forming sets with copies of the first volume now remain- 
ing on hand. Your committee, not feeling themselves 
authorized to adopt these proposals without a special refer- 
ence, submit them to the consideration of the Society. 

A map of the Indian localities in the United States, .drawn 
by Mr. Gallatin, will accompany the volume. 
All which is respectfully submitted. 

George Folsom, 
For the Committee of Publication. 
Worcester, October 21, 1835. 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiquarian Society in accH with S. Jennison, 
Treasurer 

On Account of General Fund 
Dr. 

To Notes $3001 . 86 

Cash on hand 90 . 7 2 

Expenses to May, 1835 $2102 . li 



i 2211 "^2 

Expenses pd from May to Oct. 21 109 . 14 > 



3o6 American Antiquarian Society 

Expenses pd from May to Oct. 21 3 . 67 

Oxford Bank stock 400.00 



$6607 
Cr. 

By balance as settled in report of May 16, 1835 $4977 

Cash received on account of mortgages of land in Maine — ) 

May 19, 1835 ) 72 

Cash on Do. Oct. 5, 1835 57 

Interest rec'd to May 16 $1443 • 94 ) 

Interest rec'd from May to Oct 55 • 50 1 ^'^^^ 

On account of Librarian's Fund 
Dr. 

To Notes $11,686.00 

Blackstone Bank Stock 500 . 00 

Cash in Treasurer's hands 304 . 28 



57 

91 
84 
38 
44 



$6607 . 57 



$12,490.28 
Cr. 

By amount rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

Profit and loss, balance after paying Librarian's salary to 

April I, 1835 1012.78 

Interest received since Oct. i 81 . 50 



12,490.28 
On account of Fund of $5,000 — 
Dr. 

To Cash paid C. C. Baldwin Augt. 3. 1835 $150.00 

Notes 6050 . 00 

Interest accrued and not received, of the sum accrued 

May 16 — credited 4.48 



$6204.48 



Cr. 

By amount of said Fund, May 16 $6078 .31 

Balance due the Treasurer 1 26 . 17 



$6204.48 



The sums paid since the last Report of the Treasurer, for expenses have 

been as follows: 

May 19. To C. C. Baldwin for transcribing Laws of New 

Haven Colony $25 .00 

To C. C. Baldwin for sundry advances by him. . 17 • 94 

To Post Master for 3 months 6 . 80 

To C. C. Baldwin for his account 25 . 40 

To O. Brown employed by Mr. Gallatin 12 .00 

To L. Spooner employed by Mr. Gallatin 22 .00 

To Post Master for 3 months 3.67 

$112.81 



June 5 
July 2 

30 
Sept. 8 

14 
Oct. 12 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jj 307 

The property of the Society, all safely invested, consists of: 
The balance of the General Fund as above stated, un- 
appropriated $4,392 . 58 

Fund for support of a Librarian and other purposes 1 2,490 . 28 

Fund for Antiquarian researches 5,923 .83 

$22,806.69 
Estate in Middlebury, Vt., estimated at $600 
Balance on notes secured by mortgages 
on lands in Dixmont, Maine $500 1,100.00 

$23,906.69 

The above is exclusive of all interest accrued but not re- 
ceived. 

The balance of money in the hands of the Treasurer, 
$268.83, has not been put on interest from a belief that it 
would soon be wanted for the purposes of the Publishing 
Committee. 

Sam'l Jennison, Treasurer. 
Oct. 21, 1835. 

In compliance with the request of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, the subscribers have carefully examined the 
above accounts, and report as their opinion, that they are 
free of errors. The balances of former accounts were verified 
by an inspection of the Treasurer's Books. Charges for 
Bank Stocks and for loans made on notes, bonds and mort- 
gages, were sustained by satisfactory evidence and the amount 
ascertained as correct, by comparing the certificates and 
obligations with the charges in the respective accounts. 
The charges for expenses (including what was paid for build- 
ing two wings to the House in addition to what was con- 
tributed by Mr. Thomas towards the object) were duly 
authorized and well vouched in every instance, except where 
the sums were less than one dollar. The sums credited as 
cash received for interest on sundry obligations and for land 
sold, were not, and from the nature of the case could not well 
be sustained by evidence; yet your committee are perfectly 
convinced of their correctness. 

All which is respectfully submitted by 

Daniel Waldo 



S. M. BuRNSiDE j Committee. 
A true record. 

Attest, 

Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



3o8 American Antiquarian Society 

ADDRESS BY WILLIAM LINCOLN 

When the members of the Antiquarian Society last gathered 
in this house around the altar of Religion, the prayer ascended 
from the Hps of the venerated servant of the Most High, for 
the benefactor and patron of our institution. The voice of 
one now silent in the grave, with the eloquent language of 
gratitude, portrayed the merits and services of him, who laid 
the foundation, and reared, in strength and beauty, the 
structure of our prosperity. Again we have come up to the 
temple of our faith, that spot where earth-born care may best 
repose, to acknowledge, in humility, the dispensation of Prov- 
idence which has removed another valued associate from 
our circle. 

The period is short since the Librarian cheered our meet- 
ings \vith his pleasant narrative of increasing acquisitions 
and extending usefulness. So brief is the space, we can 
scarcely be persuaded he will no more share in our labors. 
He still seems to us to occupy his accustomed seat, waiting 
to greet us with cordial welcome. We still seem to see him 
in our halls, discoursing, as he was wont, before their por- 
traits, of the manly worth of Winthrop, the piety of Higgin- 
son, the virtues of Endicot, the patient endurance of Rogers, 
the learning of the Mathers, and the sagacity and wisdom of 
the Cookes, or illustrating to the visitor the doubtful in- 
scription on our monument of Spanish discovery. He stands 
before us, wrapt in admiration of the ancient volume, de- 
lighted with the faded manuscript, and seducing away our 
books from their private use. His words of mirthful jest 
or curious lore are still echoing to our ears. He seems present 
with us, in all the simpHcity of his life, existing in our recol- 
lections as he did in our affections. 

Why thus lingers memory on the fleeting shadows of the 
past? Why do we thus resist the solemn truth that presses 
unwelcome conviction on our minds? It is because the solid 
virtues and gentle graces blended in his character, while they 
commanded our admiration, won our esteem. True in friend- 
ship, sincere in social intercourse, ardent in the discharge of 
duty, devoted in his attachments, he was endeared to us by 
innumerable ties. We know that he sleeps far away from his 
kindred, in the land of the stranger, but we endeavor to for- 
get that he has ceased to walk with us on earth, and make 
our toils pleasures. 



Address by William Lincoln 309 

Mr. Baldwin was, indeed, a remarkable person; but re- 
markable, not so much for the splendor of genius as the 
milder lustre of social worth, for unpretending and peculiar 
power, disinterested exertion, and elevated enthusiasm. 
Many have been gifted with higher talent and greater in- 
tellectual force, but few have possessed so much that was 
excellent and amiable. 

We have assembled to bear pubHc testimony to the merits 
of our departed friend, and gratefully to recognise his services 
and our obligations. It is the appointed duty of the hour, 
to review the incidents of the hfe devoted to the promotion 
of our objects, to contemplate the traits of character which 
attracted our esteem, and to estimate the extent of our in- 
debtedness. A plain and unadorned recital is all it is proposed 
to offer you, and if the record fails to render justice to the 
memory of our lost companion, the feelings of those who 
knew him will spontaneously supply the deficiency of praise. 

Christopher Columbus Baldwin, late Librarian of the 
American Antiquarian Society, was born in Templeton, in 
the County of Worcester, August i, 1800. He was third 
son of Eden Baldwin, an extensive land proprietor and valued 
citizen of that town, esteemed for social worth and respected 
for intelligence and integrity. Having acquired the rudi- 
ments of learning in the schools of his native village, he pur- 
sued the studies preparatory for admission to college mth 
diligence, during the summers of three years succeeding 181 6, 
at Leicester Academy, and employed the winters in the in- 
struction of youth with distinguished success. The festivity 
of disposition, spreading perpetual sunshine over his path, 
the keen perception of the ridiculous, extracting amusement 
from the very troubles of existence, and the perpetual flow 
of good humor, rendered him the favorite of his associates. 
The pubhc exhibitions of the academic institution, always 
of popular cast, then derived attraction from dramatic repre- 
sentations. Engaging in these exercises with zeal, the parts 
he assumed, selected from comedy, were sustained with a 
degree of spirit which would have honored the professional 
artists of the stage. In 1819, he entered Harvard University. 
The mental habits matured and ripened in after years, were 
distinctly developed in the early period of his course. Gay 
and flowing wit, whimsical views of life and manners, innocent 
peculiarities of taste, capacity for patient apphcation, un- 



3IO American Antiquarian Society 

affected kindness and conscientious regard for duty, blended 
in pleasant union. The light of benevolence, beaming over 
all, cheered the morning and brightened till the sudden close 
of his days. The student, lawyer or librarian, was the same 
sincere, artless, intelligent, true hearted and amiable being. 
The mingled enthusiasm and love of minute detail implanted 
in his intellectual constitution, were first directed to the cul- 
tivation of departments of natural history. The holidays, 
usually given by others to occupations more enticing, were 
appropriated by him to the chase of insects or the search for 
minerals. Often, after a whole day of toil and the journey 
of miles, returning with his hat wreathed with butterflies 
and shoulders loaded with ores, the night wore away in trac- 
ing, with triumphant satisfaction, the genealogy of the one 
and the family relations of the other. Sometimes, after por- 
ing over the features of some rocky fragment, until it grew 
too strongly upon his affections to be left behind, it was rolled, 
with persevering industry, from its bed to the way side, and 
watched and guarded, until some accommodating associate 
or traveller yielded to solicitations too agreeably urged to 
be denied, and aided in transporting the heavy treasure to 
his cabinet. 

But, although the blossoms of the field had often greater 
allurements for him than the flowers of literature; though 
the changes of hving forms seduced him from the inflections 
of deceased languages; and he turned from the artifical rules 
of written knowledge to the contemplation of the laws of 
order impressed on the world of matter, the regular employ- 
ments of his situation were not abandoned, and he main- 
tained respectable station in his class. 

In the spring of 1823, one of those unhappy commotions, 
too often disturbing the repose of the colleges of New England, 
occurred at Cambridge. This is not the time, nor this the 
place, to investigate the causes or merits of the controversy 
which arose to mar the harmony of the instructors and in- 
structed: nor is the task now imposed, to draw away the 
mantle of oblivion charity has thrown over the errors of the 
wise and the follies of the thoughtless. But it is permitted, 
every where, to deplore the want of influence or skill, in 
governments assuming the responsibilities of paternal re- 
lation, to restrain their inconsiderate but generous subjects, 
urged on by honest though mistaken convictions of right, 
from acts of resistence to authority: to lament the conse- 



Address by William Lincoln 311 

quences of the false policy, chastising fidelity and chivalrous 
feeling and rewarding cowardice and perfidy: to express in- 
dignation that the suspected should be compelled, before any 
tribunal, to criminate themselves, betray their associates, or 
violate the sacredness of truth: to regret that some, who have 
been among our best and worthiest citizens, should have 
been driven forth from their halls with ahenated affections 
and painful recollections: and to encourage the hope, that, 
if such abuses still linger in the venerated seats of learning, 
reason may apply her lenient corrective before the axe of 
reform, thundering at their gates, shall hew away the relics 
of the severities of darker ages. 

In May 1823, the connexions of Mr. Baldwin and many of 
his classmates with the University were dissolved, and on 
the 17th of June following, having chosen the profession 
of the law, he entered the office of the Hon. Levi Lincoln and 
the Hon. John Davis, then associated in business. On the 
retirement of the former from the bar, his legal studies were 
continued and completed with the latter gentleman. 

While a student, his pen was busied in maintaining ac- 
tive epistolary intercourse with a circle of correspondents 
constantly enlarging ; for, with him, the beginning of acquain- 
tance was the commencement of friendship. He made fre- 
quent contributions to the pubHc prints, often instructive, 
always amusing. He dehghted to seize some grave error 
and laugh it out of countenance; to hold the mirror before 
some absurdity, and show how ridiculous was the reflected 
image. The narrative of excursions to mountain, lake and 
shore, and the description of a journey to the West, were 
communicated in the form of letters from "the Pilgrim," 
the appellation he loved to assume. In reviewing these 
early compositions, we are struck with the air of sincerity, 
as much as by the Uvely style of remark. We seem to as- 
sume the staff with him, and wander, on foot, through the 
thick settled regions or romantic soHtudes of the West. As we 
pass onward, we catch the amusing incidents by the way, ex- 
plore the villages, meditate among their grave yards, and pluck 
the grass away from the moss grown head stones to decypher 
the names of those who sleep beneath. With him, we wander 
around the memorial mounds of ancient time, and toil with 
pick and shovel to develop the construction and deduce the 
design of the builders. We share the feehng with which he 
gathers into his scrip the mouldering bones, and participate 



312 American Antiquarian Society 

the veneration with which he places under the pillow of his 
nightly rest the relics of the warrior or statesman of a perished 
nation. 

In the autumn of 1825, Mr. Baldwin became an editor and 
proprietor of the Worcester Magazine and Historical Journal. 
This work, issued in monthly numbers, was intended to col- 
lect and preserve facts tending to illustrate the origin, prog- 
ress and condition of the institutions, exhibit the resources, 
physical, poHtical, and social advantages of the County of 
Worcester, and present a full and accurate account of each 
town within its territorial limits. It was continued during 
a year, forming two octavo volumes, and was then suspended 
for want of patronage. It was a humble but useful toil to 
compile the history of municipal corporations, and a humbler 
merit to be merely the architect of the materials of others. 
Standing, as it were, by the fresh earth of the new made 
grave, the survivor of the dehghtful labors shared with him 
who is gone, may testify without the imputation of unworthy 
motive, that it is no dishonor to his memory to have aided 
in drawing out some of the most faithful of the memoirs of 
our towns which have been produced. Powerful and ef- 
ficient volunteers enlisted, to gather from fields before un- 
visited, the rich harvest of recorded evidence and traditional 
lore. The simple and accurate annals of Northborough by 
the Rev. Mr. Allen, the minute and exact account of Lan- 
caster by Mr. Willard, the eloquent and interesting narrative 
of Leicester by Mr. Washburn, and the general view of the 
County by the late Mr. Goodwin, were acquisitions to the 
historic community of inestimable value. They elevated 
the standard in the department of literary exertion, by their 
example of patient research and untiring diligence. And 
they perpetuated some memorials of those who here raised 
the massive columns of social virtue, moral improvement and 
civil and religious Kberty. 

Mr. Baldwin furnished for this periodical, the History of 
Templeton, many essays, biographical sketches, and selec- 
tions of revolutionary papers. 

By such employments, the latent love of antiquity, exist- 
ing in his mind, was brought into active exercise, and a pas- 
sion for the things of old was roused and grew strong, till 
it absorbed all other inclinations. From this time, began a 
new era in his taste. His hand writing borrowed the ap- 
pearance of black letter type. The furniture of his room was 



Address by William Lincoln 313 

discarded as too modern, and chairs, with the carved claws 
of another century, supplied the vacancy. The clock which 
marked the passing of well employed hours, was the fruit of 
the rude workmanship of the first artist who here attempted 
to combine its ingenious machinery. Over his table, decrepit 
with age and tottering on palsied limbs, hung the portrait of 
the antiquary, gazing on the corroded coin and fancying what 
had been the obliterated inscription. He lived amid the 
emblems of decay and the recollections of the past. The 
authorities of history grew as familiar to his memory as 
the remains which surrounded him to his vision. The Pilgrims 
themselves were scarcely better acquainted with the hard- 
ships of the rock bound coast and stormy climate, or the 
bitterer sufferings of the persecutions they first endured and 
then inflicted, than was he who traced their footsteps with 
eager curiosity. Among the amusements of his leisure, was 
the preparation of copious indices to the Magnalia of Cotton 
Mather, the most voluminous of the writers, and the work 
of Hutchinson, the most philosophical of the historians of 
New England. These still remain to attest how diligently 
he drew from the fountains of knowledge. 

While the habits and feelings which wove themselves into 
his identity were acquiring firmness and consistency, Mr. 
Baldwin was admitted to practise as an Attorney, and es- 
tabhshed himself in Worcester, in June 1826. 

The law is a jealous mistress, demanding the sacrifice of 
undivided and assiduous attention, permitting no admiration 
of the beauties of hterature and no dalHance with the muse 
of history. Rare gifts of nature, extensive acquirement of 
industry, and fehcitous combinations of circumstances, must 
unite for the success of the forensic advocate. He who would 
venture where the gladiators of the bar contend for victory, 
needs that hardihood of temperament, which will sustain 
him amid the rough coUisions of the struggle with others 
and the severer conflict with his own irresolution and timidity. 

The attractive manners of Mr. Baldwin and the confidence 
of his integrity, gathered around him useful and devoted cHents. 
Careless of pecuniary gain, desiring only the supply of daily 
wants, a successful business gave enough of employment 
and emolument to content his unambitious disposition, 
without plunging into the heartless scramble for distinction. 

It is useless now to inquire, how far he possessed capacity 
for attaining the higher walks of the profession, and aspiring 



314 American Antiquarian Society 

to honors he never coveted. There is apparent contradic- 
tion in the union of light wit and profound research, which 
vanishes on close examination. The quality of wit rests 
on the quick and ready discrimination of the resemblance of 
ideas, and the facility of establishing correspondence or 
distinction before undiscovered. Legal judgment is founded 
on similar basis of accurate perception of differences. He 
who can delight by the brilliancy of sudden repartee, may 
convince by the acuteness of reasoning. Hence it is, that 
men gifted with the most vivid imagination have possessed 
the power of engaging in the minutest detail. The noblest 
strains of our native poetry have risen from the counters of 
banks, and writers of the most facinating power have been 
devoted to avocations the most practical. 

For many years, and until the morning of the very day 
of his decease, Mr. Baldwin preserved a diary, where he 
entered with the freedom of his own thoughts, his observa- 
tions of society and occurences. Too unrestrained in the 
expression of opinion to be trusted beyond the guardianship 
of friendship, it displays the "daily beauty of his Ufe." His 
own simple words explain the reason why he would not if 
he could, have been eminent as a lawyer. 

"Feb'y. 1834. In the evenings of the first week of this 
month, I prepared the third edition of Goodwin's Town 
Oflficer for the press. The labor is not without profit to me, 
for I have great occasion to be grateful that I am an anti- 
quarian and not a lawyer, and to pity the latter. Besides, 
I am admonished how much mischief a man might be guilty 
of in the profession. My conscience should be easy on that 
score, for I never had any love for the law. I used it only 
to earn my bread, and that I procured with the sweat of the 
brow, and as soon as I could I left the bar." 

Without the earnest devotion and ardent zeal which can 
alone enable its votaries to attain eminence, he maintained 
good standing, and unstained reputation. 

On the 23d of October, 1827, he was elected a member of the 
American Antiquarian Society, and was afterwards entrusted 
with the temporary care of its library and collections. 

In 1829, Mr. Baldwin was Editor of the National ^^gis, 
one of the newspapers of Worcester, and its columns were 
filled, during the year, with the productions of his pen. His 
free and flowing style and good taste, rendered the journal 
acceptable to the public. 



Address by William Lincoln 315 

Although his practice had been attended with liberal and 
increasing patronage, the fear of competition and the hope 
of more peaceful enjoyment of the moderate emolument he 
desired, induced him to remove to Barre, in May 1830. His 
residence there was protracted long enough to secure the 
regard of all who formed his acquaintance. In November, 
of the same year, he became connected with Jonas L. Sibley, 
Esq., now Marshal of the district of Massachusetts, and re- 
moved to Sutton. During his brief stay there, he was en- 
gaged in collecting all the existing materials for a perfect 
history of that ancient town. He visited the gray haired 
inhabitants, inquired of their ancestors, traced the line of 
genealogy, and followed the stream of generations to its 
source. Every depository of information was carefully ex- 
amined. The records of church and parish, the archives 
of the state, the dusty files and moulded volumes, were 
scrupulously searched. His communion was with the dead 
as well as the Uving. A collection of Epitaphs, transcribed 
from the head stones of every burial place his feet could 
reach, is preserved, and might serve as a directory to the 
graves of the forefathers of the hamlets. Had his life been 
continued, the fragments of his labors which remain, would 
have been built into a work without parallel for the extent 
of minute particulars. It would have resembled those mo- 
saics, where countless specks are joined into regular and 
beautiful figures. 

The munificent founder of the Antiquarian Society, Doctor 
Isaiah Thomas, with expanded benevolence, contemplating 
the good of the future as well as the present, had bestowed 
a library, rich in publications of the American Press, and 
erected a building for the use of the institution. On his 
decease, ample and generous bequests provided funds for 
the support of a librarian, and the perpetuation and exten- 
sion of those benefits his enlightened liberaUty gave to the 
public and to posterity. 

In the autumn of 1831, Mr, Baldwin was elected Librarian, 
and in April 1832, entered upon the discharge of the duties 
of the office. Knowing the disrelish he entertained for the 
profession of his adoption, his indifference to pecuniary ad- 
vantage, his earnest desire for tranquillity, and more ardent 
attachment to antiquarian pursuits, we are not surprised 
by his acceptance of a place corresponding so well with his 
peculiar views of happiness, with compensation so moderate 
as was the salary attached to the office. 



3i6 American Antiquarian Society 

The collections, accumulating during twenty years, by 
the unceasing flow of the bounty of the President, the dona- 
tions of members mindful of the vested right of the society 
to every rare volume in their possession, and the favor of 
liberal individuals, had become immense. The newspapers 
of a century lay piled in vast heaps, and the masses of tracts 
had swelled by constant additions, as the waters of the lake 
gather from the rain drops. The spoils of time were mingled 
in confusion. No catalogue existed to point the inquirer to the 
object of his search, or exhibit the value and extent of wealth. 

The Librarian entered on his labors with spirit and resolu- 
tion. Day after day, his hand was busy in reducing to order 
sheets thrown ojff from the press, as leaves are scattered from 
the autumn woods. Month after month, the task was pur- 
sued with unwearied assiduity, until regular arrangement 
took the place of disorder, and long series of volumes were 
ranged on the shelves where the heavy bundles of papers had 
before been promiscously piled. 

The policy of the society, in accordance with the generous 
views of its founder, threw open its halls to the public. They 
became the resort of scholars, seeking instruction from the 
worn and blackened pages; of the traveller, gathering the 
good from useful institutions to diffuse their benefits in other 
lands; and the casual visitant, gazing on the rusted weapon 
of warfare and the illuminated manuscript with equal curi- 
osity. The same ease and urbanity rendered the visit de- 
lightful to the learned and unlettered ahke. Each found a 
communicative and courteous attendant, overflowing with 
pleasant narrative and peculiar learning, and few departed 
without finding their agreeable companion had enticed away 
the precious authors from their shelves, the neglected treasures 
from their garrets, and the good will from their hearts. 

The attachment to science became absorbed, and the very 
love of antiquity became secondary to that ardent devotion 
to the institution which now occupied the mind of the Li- 
brarian. Never did individual labor with more fervent zeal 
for the accomplishment of the poor purposes of ambition 
or avarice, than did he for the promotion of the interests 
of the Society. He seemed to lose the consciousness of any 
separate existence, and to identify himself with its ends. 
His whole thoughts were on its prosperity. His highest 
gratification was the increase of its possessions; the severest 
suffering, the loss of opportunity to add to its stores. 



Address by William Lincoln 317 

A primary object with him, was the completion of the 
perfect series of the works of American authors. There are 
few living writers of our country, who were not visited by 
his solicitations for copies of their productions, too earnest 
and respectful to be denied or postponed. 

A widely extended official correspondence spread far and 
favorably, the name and claims of the society, at home and 
abroad. The learned, on the continent, were addressed in 
relation to its objects. The munificent, everywhere, received 
information of the merits of the great charity, and occasion 
was afforded to the Hberal to contribute their acceptable aid. 

A few extracts from the Diary,^ in which was entered the 
record of his thoughts and acts, in his own plain manner, 
and from letters to his friends, will afford examples of his 
exertions and merits as an officer of the society. 

"May 1832. This month was employed in assorting, ar- 
ranging, and preparing newspapers for the binder. I have 
devoted since the first of April, twelve hours in each day to this 
business, and such is the number of papers and the confusion 
of condition, that I have, thus far, made but little alteration 
in their appearance. Diligence, however, will do every thing, 
and I do not despair of soon putting them in good condition." 

"July 10. It is one of the chief sources of my trouble, 
being happy enough in all other respects, that the Society 
cannot devote its funds to increase the newspapers. Since 
I have been here I have been unwearied in my pains to get 
good files of papers from all parts of the country. I have 
made arrangements with some forty or fifty individuals, from 
different sections of the United States, to procure for me 
ancient as well as modem sets, and to preserve all those that 
they have subscribed for. In this way, the collection must 
become exceedingly valuable. I suffer no traveller to visit me, 
without enlisting him in my cause, and giving him directions 
how to find them, and how to send them to me. Though I 
may fail of getting as many as I wish, I am sure I shall en- 
title myself to the gratitude of future antiquaries." 

"October 20, 1833. During the year past, about nine 
hundred volumes have been added to the Hbrary. In this 
estimate, the bound pamphlets are included, but not enumer- 
ated singly. A great portion relate to our American His- 
tory, and among them are many which are rare and curious. 

^ Some of the extracts noted by Mr. Lincoln do not appear in the Diary as 
printed, nor can they be found in the original manuscript. 



3i8 American Antiquarian Society 

There is no book so poor that it may not sometime be called 
for, and no book which is wanted for any purpose, can be re- 
garded as useless. I have adopted a broad rule, and am so 
impartial I can give no offence. One day I am visited by a 
collector of ordination sermons: the next, by a collector of 4th 
of July orations: then comes a collector of geography : another 
wants rehgious newspapers: another wants books printed in 
New York before 1700. I accommodate myself to all; for I 
want every thing, and collect every thing, and I have more 
zeal than the whole of them : and in this way I am kept very 
busy. Many things I obtain are of small value, but the 
course adopted will be most useful to the society." 

"Jan'y. 10, 1834. I have proposed to myself the task of 
forming in our Hbrary a perfect collection of every book and 
pamphlet ever made in the country. The object is so de- 
sirable, that I feel, for such a purpose, I have an undoubted 
right to ask an author for a copy of his labors. I received, 
a few days ago, a complete Kst of all the publications of the 
Rev. Dr. Emmons, of Frankhn, numbering about seventy. 
I have, also, nearly a complete set of the writings of Dr. 
Jonathan Mayhew, and so of Dr. Gay, of Hingham, and 
many others. The venerable Mathew Carey sent me all 
his pubhcations, as far as he could find them, bound in seven 
octavo volumes, and accompanied the present with what 
he considered a complete Hst of his publications. But, in 
making this list, he fell into a mistake similar to that re- 
ported of Did>Tnus, who read one of his own books of History 
without recognising himself as the author. Mr. Carey, in 
his account of his own publications, had omitted several he 
had written. Cotton Mather's publications are three hun- 
dred and eighty two, and yet not more than eighty of them 
are in any of our public libraries. It is desirable every thing 
printed should be preserved, for we cannot now tell how use- 
ful it may becomxC two centuries hence. I procure every 
thing I can in relation to the excitements or revolutions of 
public opinion. There are champions in every cause of this 
nature, who are wilUng to help me, and I give them no quarter 
until I obtain all their pamphlets." 

"June 20, 1834. The happiest moments of my life are 
those employed in opening packages of books presented to 
the library of the Antiquarian Society. It gives me real, 
unadulterated satisfaction. It is then, that, like Tarn O' 
Shanter, I am, 'O'er all the ills of life victorious.' " 



Address by William Lincoln 319 

"Dec. 4, 1834. I received a letter from the Secretary of 
the American Bible Society, informing me, that institution, 
in compliance with my request, had directed to be forwarded 
to our Library, seventeen Bibles and twenty four new testa- 
ments, in English, and various other European and Indian 
languages." 

"Dec'r 9. Better luck still. The 30th Aug. I wrote a 
letter to Obadiah Rich, Esq. American Bookseller in London, 
and, among other things, asked how our Library could be 
enriched with a set of the works pubhshed by the Record 
Commission. Twenty copies of these works, consisting of 
seventy-four folio ^volumes to a set, had been presented to as 
many American Libraries, by the generous liberality of the 
British government. Our hbrary was not included among 
them and I wanted exceedingly to obtain them, and, to my 
entire delight, Mr. Rich has answered my letter, saying that 
C. Cooper, Esq. Secretary of the Record Commission, hav- 
ing seen my letter, gave orders to have our Library furnished 
with all the volumes that were not out of print, and that we 
shall receive above fifty of them. The whole set cost the 
British Government £800 the set, which is near four thousand 
dollars. How very liberal this ! 

"I took so much courage upon this news, that I sat down, 
and wrote to Lord Viscount Kingsborough, an Irish noble- 
man, requesting him to give our Library a copy of the great 
work prepared by Augustine Aglio, and pubUshed at his 
Lordship's expense, on the Antiquities of Mexico, comprised 
in seven imperial folios, and costing £175, equal to about 
eight hundred and fifty dollars ; and being in a begging humor, 
I also wrote to the British and Foreign Bible Society, ask- 
ing them for all the Bibles printed in the Asiatic and Indian 
Languages." 

"Feb'y. 6, 1835. When I became Librarian, we had not 
half a set of the United States Laws. Our set is now com- 
plete from 1789 to the present time. I have enquired dili- 
gently for them, and, at last, have succeeded. One, who 
has not undertaken to fiU up the gaps in a pubHc library, 
cannot im.agine how much time and patience are required. 
I have filled up the laws of our own state, so that our col- 
lection is now much more perfect than any other one in the 
country. There are many other departments which I am 
daily perfecting; such as, the series of reports of Societies, &c. 
I cannot describe the comfort, real, substantial comfort, I 



320 American Antiquarian Society 

have in increasing our store. My convictions grow stronger 
and stronger, that, if no calamity befalls us, and my health 
is spared, our library, in a few years, must rank among the 
most interesting in the country." 

Great care was bestowed by Mr. Baldwin on the compila- 
tion of a full descriptive catalogue of books. This work 
grew under his hands, until the Hst it contained, swelled 
from 6000 to 10,000 volumes. New accessions delayed the 
completion, and his own successful exertions seemed hkely 
to render the task interminable. 

The Librarian's situation had become one of almost un- 
alloyed happiness. The heavier toils of his office were fast 
drawing to their close. The society had directed the publi- 
cation of the catalogue, without delaying beyond a fixed date 
for further accessions. Surrounded by warm friends, extend- 
ing his acquaintance among celebrated men, conciUating 
personal kindness every where, increasing his own knowl- 
edge, becoming more and more useful, and feehng that his 
services were appreciated, there was nothing in external cir- 
cumstances to mar the enjoyment of his success. He was 
building up a distinguished reputation, and the period of 
leisure was approaching, when it would have been elevated 
by literary exertion. He had contemplated compiKng the 
history of the American press, and forming a BibHotheca 
Americana, which should exhibit a description of all Ameri- 
can productions, with notices of the authors. He looked 
forward with confidence to the execution of undertakings, 
which would have given him strong claims on the gratitude 
of antiquarians. But he was destined to furnish another 
example of the frail basis of human expectations. 

Labor, scarcely reHeved by any relaxation, continued con- 
finement, and the intense devotion of mind to one engrossing 
subject, had impaired the health, and was fast undermining 
the constitution, of the Librarian, The insidious advances 
of disease, preying upon his spirits and wasting his strength, 
threatened by its slow but certain progress to terminate his 
usefulness. 

The great benefactor of the Society, whose name never 
rises on our recollection without awakening emotions of 
gratitude, had appropriated funds for defraying the expenses 
of exploring the ancient works of the West. It had early 
been the design of Mr. Thomas, to take effectual measures to 
preserve the memory of these great landmarks of history, 



Address by William Lincoln 321 

the giant mausolea and magnificent fortresses of tribes whose 
very names have faded in oblivion. The volume of Archaeo- 
logia, printed at his charge, is full of interesting details of 
the arts and structures of the primeval population of the 
continent. Yet much remained to be examined and delin- 
eated, before the effacing finger of decay should have obliter- 
ated the outhnes. The hordes of barbarians, poured from 
the bosom of the North, while they revelled in the lux- 
uries of Italy, spared her classic monuments. The refine- 
ment and intelligence of the present age is reckless of the 
heirlooms of the past. The ploughshare sweeps over the 
ramparts of the revolution, and turns the sod of the battle 
plains of freedom. Modern improvement levels the circles 
concentering around the burial place of aboriginal kings, 
and the cities of civihzation rise over the spot where the dust 
of nations had slept undisturbed in their sepulchral mounds 
for uncounted ages. 

With the view to accompUsh the wise purposes of the foun- 
der, by investigating these most interesting relics, and in 
the hope that the Hfe and usefulness of a valued officer might 
be preserved, by employment so congenial to his taste, the 
Council directed the Librarian to proceed on a mission to 
the West, with instructions to procure accurate admeasure- 
ments, plans and descriptions of the works he might visit; 
to use such exertions as the state of his health and convenience 
might permit, to obtain papers, books and materials of his- 
tory; and to communicate with the friends and members 
of the institution. 

The journal of every day, the last sad memorial of his 
worth, shows how faithfully the trust was executed while 
existence remained. On the 3d of August, 1835, he departed 
from Worcester, with the intention of proceeding to the 
State of Ohio. Along his way, he gleaned epitaphs from the 
church yards, visited the scenes of historic recollections, and 
collected generous promises of benefactions. On the 20th 
of August, he set out from Wheeling, for Zanesville, in Ohio. 
The fields, covered with the relics of the past, were spread be- 
fore him. His pen has traced on the pages of his journal, 
the glowing anticipations of delight which pressed upon him 
in contemplation of the coming feast. But it was not per- 
mitted to him to gather the memorials of the dead. While 
approaching the village of Norwich, the stage was suddenly 
overturned, and he instantly killed. No premonition of 



322 American Antiquarian Society 

danger could have alarmed, no interval of agonizing appre- 
hension have embittered his last momerts. The death blow 
fell, without space for the departing spirit to breathe one 
prayer to Him who gave it being. 

Such was the conclusion of his innocent and peaceful career. 
Strong impulses, like the control of destiny, seemed to have 
governed his movements, and guided him to the spot where 
he fell. The shadows of impending evil, Hke warnings from 
the invisible world, rested on his thoughts before his depar- 
ture. The last wish expressed to his venerable father, on 
his farewell visit to the home of his childhood, was that he 
might rest on the soil of our own beloved New England. 

Mr. Baldwin was possessed of lively and sportive humor, 
often throwing brilHant flashes over his conversation. The 
dangerous gift of wit was guarded by good sense and tempered 
with kindness. The arrow was never poisoned by malice. 
The bitter sarcasm or cutting sneer could not rise from a heart 
so rich in good feeling. In the unrestrained freedom of 
social intercourse none were wounded by the mirthful rail- 
lery which assailed their peculiarities. Alive to all that was 
ridiculous in fashion or folly, the world was to him a theatre 
of amusement. He loved to draw from its scenes the comic 
incidents, and present to his companions graphic descrip- 
tions of pleasant passages in his own experience or that of 
others. 

The lighter accomphshments were joined with firmness 
of principle and persevering industry. He was patient of 
labor and research to an extraordinary degree. An active 
mind was connected with a busy hand. Few yoimg men had 
acquired wider spread or better reputation, and on none were 
higher expectations of future usefulness rested. 

The perennial flow of cheerfulness diffused happiness around 
him. Contented with any condition in which he might be 
placed, he deduced good from the privations and cares that 
would have depressed a temperament less elastic. 

Indifferent to pecuniary considerations, and generous to 
the hmit of his means, lus liberality often relieved distress 
at the sacrifice of his own pleasures. Wealth can bestow 
freely from its superfluity, and many will give the money they 
value little, who would refuse the expenditure of time more 
precious than coin. With him, labor, attention, earnest 
personal service were frankly offered. 

His was a manly sincerity above all guile. There was a 



Address by William Lincoln 323 

directness and simplicity which commanded confidence. We 
could have leaned on his integrity, in our darkest hour of 
peril, with full assurance that the trust would never be be- 
trayed. 

He had acquired an immense stock of genealogical knowl- 
edge. From almost every person of his own name in the 
United States, he had sought, and from most obtained, the 
story of their famihes. The descent and connexions of his 
townsmen, friends, and even the visitants of the institution, 
were noted on his memoranda as fully as on the leaves of 
their own ancestral bibles. 

He had made himself master of the biography of the books 
committed to his care. The devices of the early printers, 
the progress of the typographic art, the anecdotes connected 
with rare works and excentric or unfortunate authors, all the 
curiosities of hterature, were stored in his memory. 

His taste led him more to the study of minute facts than 
to extensive views of subjects. His mind was better satisfied 
to reduce the general principle into its particular elements, 
than by the comparison and combination of individual cir- 
cumstances to obtain one comprehensive result. 

Few among us had examined more cautiously or closely the 
evidences on which repose our hopes of the future. Few 
were more familiar with the dividing points of contending 
sects, and few had more dihgently examined the doctrines 
of Christianity, in the original language of their transmission, 
and the various versions of other tongues. 

It is wisely ordered that doubt should sometimes rise to 
darken the soul. But however the footsteps may wander 
in the mists of error, when we draw near the termination of 
life's pilgrimage, immortal truth dawns on the eye of mortal 
reason, as the light beams on the traveller from the windows 
of his home as he approaches. There were periods when the 
clear perceptions of the realities of the better world were 
dimmed, but the ecHpse was transient and had long since 
passed away. There were those, sincere and ardent in their 
sacred trusts, who confuted the arguments perverted in- 
genuity had raised, and stripped the unsound sophistries of 
their false vesture. Their precepts, like the seeds which 
lie dormant in the earth, in due time sprang up in their ver- 
dure. The companions of the Librarian can testify how deep 
was his devotion. Rehgious feeling had grown strong, and 
while it shrunk from display, and was careless of ceremonial 



324 American Antiquarian Society 

observances, pervaded his spirit with calm and tranquil in- 
fluences. 

It is not for human wisdom to trace the mysterious work- 
ings of that Providence, merciful in its severest visitations. 
We were called to resign the friend we loved, with his af- 
fections unchilled, his faculties unimpaired, his virtues un- 
stained. In the vigor of manhood, with the anticipations 
of the future bright before him, he exchanged time for eternity. 
It was the certain rehef from the possible infirmity and feeble- 
ness which follow the pressure of sickness and the waste of 
years. To the pure, the loosing of the silver chord has no 
terror. It is realizing the best and highest hopes, giving 
for the sufferings and sorrows of earth the immortal health 
and infinite happiness of the spirit's land. His was an enviable 
end. It was his to perish in the performance of duty, as 
the soldier sinks on the field of his fame. It was his high 
pri\'ilege to fall, and leave no enemy behind who could set 
foot on his early grave and accuse him of wrong: to enjoy 
the most desirable of all possessions, the esteem of the wise 
and the love of the good. 

"The evergreens selected by the taste and planted by the 
hand of the late lamented Librarian," say your Committee, 
"are the fit s>Tnbol of the memory of that excellent ofiicer, 
as cherished by the many who had the pleasure of his ac- 
quaintance, and particularly by those who, from official as- 
sociation, intimately knew his merits and his worth." 



MEETING OF MAY 25, 1836 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Tremont House in Boston on Wednesday, May 25, 1836, 
Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 

The Secretary read the report of the Council, which was 
accepted and ordered to be put on file. He also read the 
report of the Treasurer, by which it appeared that the funds 
of the Society amounted to the sum of $23,871.39 — this was 
directed to be put on fiie.^ 

Voted to ballot for the election of members. It appeared 
that Hon. Albert Gallatin, New York, Hon. Frederick Grimke, 

^ The Reports of the Council and of the Treasurer are printed from the files, 
at the end of the record of this meeting. 



Meeting of May 25, 1836 325 

Cincinnati, Ohio, Hon. William Maclure, Philadelphia, Col. 
Juan Galindo, Central America, Duke De Montmorency, 
Paris, France, William Schlegel, President of the Royal 
Society of Antiquaries, Copenhagen, Finn Magnusen, Keeper 
of the Royal Archives, Copenhagen, Charles Christian Rafn, 
Copenhagen, had been regularly nominated to the Council 
and recommended by them. They were severally balloted 
for and were all unanimously admitted m^embers of the Society. 

After an interesting discussion of various subjects relating 
to the Society — 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Secretary. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society submit 
their semi-annual Report of the condition of the funds, 
property and concerns of the Institution. 

The aggregate amount of monies in the hands of the Treas- 
urer on the 24th day of May last was $22,871.39.^ Under 
the instruction of the Society this sum has been invested in 
distinct funds strictly appropriated to the specific uses ap- 
pointed by the munificent donor. All are safely secured by 
mortgage or unquestionable personal responsibility and are 
productive. 

No opportunity has offered of making sale of the estate in 
Middlebury received under the devises in the will of Doct'r 
Thomas. As a reasonable rent has been yielded it has not 
been considered desirable to urge a conveyance by any pecun- 
iary sacrifice. The value of real property generally has ad- 
vanced, and it is probable more may [be] realized on the 
final disposition of the land, after some delay, than the mod- 
erate estimate placed on this portion of our possessions. 

The exterior condition of the buildings is good. The pines 
planted by the late lamented librarian, vigorously going on- 
ward to maturity, already render the grounds beautiful. It 
was his tasteful design to surround the Hall with a belt of 
evergreens and ornamental plants, and he looked forward to 
a time, when the Library should stand embowered amid 
trees, and having its rich relics of ancient days separated 

^ Should read $23,871.39. 



326 American Antiquarian Society 

from the busy, modern world by a curtain of perpetual ver- 
dure; a place of quiet retirement, where the curious student 
could pursue his enquiries into the past undisturbed by the 
dust or hurry of the present. To complete this plan some 
additions remain to be made which may furnish pleasant 
objects of attention in autumn. 

After that melancholy dispensation of Providence which 
terminated the useful labors of our late associate, Mr. Bald- 
win, feeling the importance of a deliberate and judicious 
selection from the very respectable applicants for the place 
left vacant by his premature death, the Council postponed 
the election of a successor to that most useful office. The 
Library has been entn.isted to the charge of a committee, 
who availed themselves of the services of Maturin L. Fisher, 
Esq., in the care of its collections and the attendance on 
visitors. This gentleman has been most assiduous in his at- 
tention, and has discharged the duties of Librarian in most 
faithful and satisfactory manner. The catalogue has been 
completed by him, and after it shall have been again revised 
by comparison with the titles of the books entered upon its 
pages, will be ready for the press. The publication may in- 
deed be commenced without delay, as soon as a contract for 
the purpose shall be concluded with the printer. 

Since the last annual meeting of the Society in October, 
about 120 volumes of bound books, and about 400 tracts 
have been added to the Library. 

In addition to the donation of four noble folios of "Dooms- 
day Book," constituting part of the series of publications of 
the Record Commission, and particularly valuable as filling 
a chasm in the collection derived from the honorable munifi- 
cence of the British Government, President Winthrop has be- 
stowed on the Society, a foHo copy of "DeLaet's America":^ 
"Memorials of the English & French commissaries concern- 
ing the limits of Nova Scotia," in 2 vols, quarto, a rare i2mo. 
copy of "Harmonia ex tribus EvangeHstis," 1563, and twelve 
beautifully bound octavos illustrative of the history and 
biography of the United States and the North of Europe. 

Although the bounty of the President has flowed so freely, 
the members of the society during the last six months have 
been less careful than usual, to exercise their privilege of 
adding to the Library. It is to be hoped that they have only 

' "Novis Orbis seu Descriptionis Indiae Occidentalis, " p. 633. 



Meeting of May 25, 1836 327 

deferred their donations, for the purpose of having a larger 
deposit included in the next Report. 

Nineteen volumes have been recently received from the 
Enghsh Record Commission, affording again occasion to ex- 
press admiration of liberality worthy of an enlightened 
nation, in distributing the materials of history derived from 
its archives among our public institutions. Fifty-six volumes 
before forwarded make the extent of the benefaction seventy- 
five volumes. 

The Legislature of Connecticut have presented a complete 
collection of the Judicial Reports of that State from 1785 to 
1834, including Kirby's, Root's, Day's, and the Connecticut 
Reports, with some volumes of statutes. It will be recol- 
lected that the Antiquarian Society had the good fortune to 
possess, and the satisfaction to present to the government of 
that State, a copy of the New Haven Colony Laws. The re- 
ward has been generous. 

Several of the States have heretofore bestowed their laws 
and documents. It is very desirable to gather into one place 
of deposit, the history of legislation and judicial action, to 
form a collection where the statesman or historian may com- 
pare the institutions of our republics with each other, to 
adopt the practical good from each, or trace the progress of 
society and improvement. To accomphsh this great purpose, 
the expediency of presenting memorials soliciting the trans- 
mission of such materials from those States, where the value 
of the object has not been so fully understood as to produce 
a regular donation, is respectfully suggested. 

The collection of the annual publications of charitable, 
benevolent and philanthropic societies, at home and abroad, 
embracing great masses of statistics and throwing bright 
light on the exertions of the good for the welfare of man, are 
and will always continue to be of deep interest. Perfect 
series of these papers are not always even in the possession of 
the association by whom they were issued. Application by 
the Antiquarian Society, would probably induce each to send 
for preservation, year by year, the reports they publish. 

Authors have not always regarded their true interest, by 
depositing a copy of their works with us, where, except for 
some accident greater than can be foreseen, they would be 
certain to reach posterity. It might deserve consideration, 
whether, as ours is a national institution, a modification of the 
law of copyright might not reasonably be solicited and ob- 



328 American Antiquarian Society 

tained, to require the delivery of one work at Antiquarian 
Hall. In most cases it would only hasten the execution of the 
intentions of the author himself. 

Books, manuscripts, tracts, or maps have been received 
from Christopher Clark, Esq., of Northampton; Miss Caro- 
line Porter of Hadley; William Packard, Esq., of Cumming- 
ton; Gen'l. Hezekiah Howe of New Haven; Don Ramon 
de La Sagra of Havana; Leavitt, Lord & Co., of New York; 
Thomas Seaver, Esq., of Walpole; Rev'd Ebenezer Jennings, 
Dalton; Dr. Lewis C. Beck, Albany; Peabody & Co., New 
York; Ansel Phelps, Esq., Greenfield; Dr. Jacob Porter, 
Plainfield; Dr. Charles W. Shephard, New Haven; Gen'l S. 
F. Macracken, Ohio; James W. Ward, Abington; George 
Folsom, Esq., Worcester; Benjamin T. Langdon, New Bed- 
ford; Robert Rantoul, Jr., Esq., Gloucester; James B. Lang- 
don, New Bedford; Hon. John Keyes, Concord; Rev'd 
Jona. Aldrich, Worcester; Hon. Joseph Story, Cambridge; 
Hon. Levi Lincoln, Dr. George Chandler, Hon. John Davis, 
John S. C. Knowlton, William C. Swan, Doct. Aaron Ban- 
croft, Jubal Harrington, J. H. Granger, and Henry J. How- 
land of Worcester; Josiah Adams of Framingham; Samuel 
A. Bradley, Esq., Portland; Mathew Carey, Esq., Phila- 
delphia; Elkanah Watson, Esq., New York; Mr. Lemuel 
Shattuck of Boston; the Congress of the United States; the 
State of Vermont; the Albany Institute; the Rhode Island 
Historical Society. While the Society recognize their bene- 
factors with grateful feelings, the length of the list affords 
pleasant evidence of the extent of interest in its objects. 

Since the last annual meeting, the Council have permitted 
the Worcester County Athenaeum to deposit a collection of 
books and an extensive and valuable cabinet of minerals in 
the rooms of the Hall, as tenants at the will of the Society, 
subject to removal at their pleasure.^ 

The Council, desirous of affording a testimonial of their 
sense of the high merit and deep devotion of the late libra- 

On Dec. 30, 1835, the Council passed the followinp; vote: 

"A request was received from the Committee of the Athena;um that the 
Library and Cabinet of the Athenccum may be received into Antiquarian Hall 
and put under the care of the Librarian. — \\'hereupon it was, Voted — That 
the Athenaeum be permitted to remove their Library and Cabinet into Anti- 
quarian Hall and that they be put under the care of the Committee who have 
charge of the Antiquarian Library and Cabinet and that the Librarian be 
directed to deliver hooks from the Library of the Athen;eum to the members 
of said Society from two to four o'clock on the afternoon of Wednesday in 
each week." 



Meeting of May 25, 1836 329 

rian to the service of the Society, have procured a portrait 
by the celebrated painter Harding, from an exact miniature 
of Mr. Baldwin;^ that the living image of an associate so 
valued and a friend so loved may remain in our halls, as his 
memory will continue in the hearts of those who knew his 
worth, and the ardor of his enthusiasm in those pursuits . to 
which our institution has been dedicated. 

The Report of the Pubhshing Committee elected by the 
Society, will exhibit progress in printing a second volume 
of Transactions, which is understood to be in a state of for- 
wardness. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

William Lincoln. 

At a meeting of the Council, Oct.^ 21, 1836, voted that the 
foregoing be accepted and presented to the Society at their 
meeting to be held on the twenty-fifth inst. at Boston, as the 
Report of the Council. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Secretary. 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas., on 
account of the General Fund 
Dr. 

To notes $3901 .86 

To expense paid to Oct. 21, 1835 2214.99 

" " from Oct. 21, 1835 to May 24, 1836 37949 

Oxford Bank Stock 400.00 

$6896.34 
Cr. 

By amount as stated in Report of Oct. 21, 1835 $6607 . 57 

By interest rec'd since Oct. 21 134-54 

Balance due the Treas. on this acc't i54 • 23 

$6896.34 
On acc't of Librarian's Fund 
Dr. 

To notes $12,036.00 

Blackstone Bank Stock 5°° • °° 

Cash in Treas. hands 49-76 

$12,585.76 

1 The miniature itself has recently been presented to the Society. 

2 Should read May. 



330 American Antiquarian Society 

Cr. 

By Amt. rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

Int. rec'd to Oct. 21, 1835. Balance after paying Librarian's 

salary to April, 1836 1,072 . 58 

Interest rec'd since April i 1 17 . 18 

$12,585.76 
On acc't of Fund of $5,000.00 
Dr. 

To notes $5550.00 

Cash in treasurer's hands 488 . 00 

$6038.00 
Cr. 

By amount of said Fund Oct. 21, 1835 $5928.31 

Interest rec'd 109 . 69 



00 

The expenses paid since Oct., 18 jj, have accrued for 
Dr. 

Coal etc., S. R. Jackson acc't j ^^ 0° 

Insurance on building, etc 1 8? 2 ? 

Edw. Baldwin for books purchased 12 .30 

H. J. Rowland, for printing Mr. Lincoln's address 25 .00 

H. W. Miller, for stove, etc 35-52 

C. Harris, for stationery, etc 17 . 80 

For treasurer's compensation, 4 years from April, 1832 to 

April, 1836 1 20 . 00 

Miscellaneous expenses 13-96 

%79-49 
Cr. 

Balance of General Fund unappropriated $4,147 .63 

Amount of Librarian's Fund 1 2,585 . 76 

Amoimt of Fund of $5000.00 6,038 . 00 

Middlebury Estate 600 . 00 

Bal. due on mortgage in Maine, estimated 500 . 00 

$23,871.39 

The above is the amount of the property of the Society, 
exclusive of interest, accrued, but not received. 

Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 
May 24, 1836. 



Meeting of October 24, i8j6 331 

MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, 1836 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Monday, October 24, 
1836. 

Hon. John Davis, Vice-President, in the Chair. 

The semi-annual Report of the Council was read. 

Voted, That the Report be accepted. 

Voted, That the Report of the Treasurer be committed to a 
committee to audit the same and report to the Council at a 
future meeting.^ 

Chose — Hon. Daniel Waldo and Sam'l M. Burnside, Esq. 

The Publishing Committee made verbal report that the 
second volume of "Archaeologia Americana" is now published 
and ready for delivery, and that the copy used for printing 
had been returned to the Library .^ 

Voted, That the PubHshing Committee be directed to 
present to the Hon. Albert Gallatin forty copies of the above 
volume in sheets, with the thanks of the Society for his con- 
tribution to the volume. 

Voted, That the volume just published be committed to 
the charge of the Council to dispose of the same and settle 
the accounts in such manner as they may think proper. 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be tendered to Doct. 
John Park for his care and diligence in preparing the [Cata- 
logue of the] Society's Library for the press. 

Voted, That the Catalogue, when pubhshed, be committed 
to the charge of the Council, to dispose of the same and 
settle the accounts in such manner as they may think proper. 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be tendered to the 
Publishing Committee for their care and fidelity in publish- 
ing a second volume of the transactions of the Society. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the ensuing 
year. Chose: 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President. 
Hon. John Davis, ist Vice-President. 
Hon. Joseph Story, 2d Vice-President. 

^ The reports of the Council and Treasurer are printed after the records of 
this meeting, from the Society's files. 

^ This volume was printed as vol. 2 of the Transactions, with the publication 
date of 1836 and contained 573 pages. It included, in addition to the articles 
recommended by the Committee in their report of October, 1835, a letter from 
Adam Clarke upon the subject of antiquities, an obituary notice of C. C. Baldwin 
by John Davis, and a Catalogue of Officers and of Members. The volume is 
now the scarcest of the Society's Transactions. 



332 American Antiquarian Society 

Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 
His Exc'y Edward Everett, Foreign Corresponding Sec'y. 
William Lincoln, Esq., Domestic Corresponding Sec'y. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. Treasurer. 

Benjamin Russell. 

Levi Lincoln. 

Edward D. Bangs. 

James C. Merrill. 

Charles Lowell. 

Sam'l M. Burnside. f Counsellors. 

Frederick W. Paine. 

John Green. 

John Park. 

Joseph Willard. 

John Park. ^ 

George Folsom. [ Publishing Committee. 



Alfred D. Foster. 

Voted — To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, in con- 
formity with the provisions of the Society's By-Laws, re- 
spectfully submit the following semi-annual Report relating 
to the concerns of the Institution : 

The Library, upon a general inspection, appears to be in 
good order, and steadily, if not rapidly, increasing. Since 
the last Report, its contents have been considerably en- 
larged, and the value of its literary treasures has received an 
augmentation more than proportionate to the increased num- 
ber of its volumes. Within the last year nearly two hundred 
bound volumes, between twenty and thirty volumes of news- 
papers, not yet bound, and about four hundred pamphlets, 
have been added to our collection. The greater part of these 
additions has been made within the last six months ; and they 
have been all received in donations from individuals and so- 
cieties, who take a generous interest in the prosperity of our 
Association, and give evidence that the Society has friends 
who properly understand and estimate its objects, and are 
ready to lend their aid in promoting them. It is not neces- 
sary to give a detailed account of these donations, but there 
are some worthy of particular notice. 



Meeting of October 24, 1836 333 

Our president, Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, has afforded us 
a new instance of his discriminating judgment, as well as his 
liberality, in the donation of a book of great rarity — (of 
which it is believed there is but one other copy in the country, 
and that in the Hbrary of Harvard University). It is en- 
titled "Evangelia Gothica," a quarto volume, containing 
the Four Evangelists, in the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon lan- 
guages, printed at Dort, in Holland, in 1665. The same 
gentleman has also presented us with an article, not only in- 
teresting to the curiosity of the antiquary, but useful in the 
transaction of our every-day business, viz.; A cabinet desk, 
which formerly belonged to Gov. Belcher (the Governor of 
Massachusetts Bay from 1730 to 1740) which is in a state of 
perfect preservation, and is, at the present time, a convenient 
and handsome piece of furniture.^ 

We think it also proper particularly to mention the dona- 
tion (by its author) of a book well adapted to the purposes of 
our Institution, being a compilation of Ancient Documents 
from the Public Archives of the State of Connecticut, by 
R. R. Hinman, Esq., Secretary of that State. This volume 
contains much interesting matter, and is dedicated to this 
Society in very complimentary terms.^ 

The Hall is in a secure condition, and with the additional 
accommodation which the munificence of its Founder has en- 
abled us to provide, it is not only sufiicient for our present 
necessity, but will not probably require, for some time to 
come, any considerable expense for enlargements or repairs. 

The ornamental trees and shrubbery which surround the 
building continue to thrive. They were happily alluded to 

^ The following letter from Mr. Winthrop is of interest: 

M. L. Fisher, Esq. Boston, August gt 1836. 

Dear Sir: 

Enclosed is the receipt of the agent of the Worcester Railroad cars, 
for a Cabinet Desk, which bears some strong marks of antiquity. I have been 
induced to purchase it hoping that it may prove useful in some department of 
the American Antiquarian Society's establishment. It was the property of 
(jov'r. Belcher in the year of 1730, then of Mr. Jno. Wheatley of this city, 
Merchant, then of the late Rev'd Dr. Lathrop, who married his daughter, and 
afterwards of the late Rev'd Mr. McKean, after whose decease it was bought 
at the sale of his hbrary, &c., by the Rev'd Dr. Harris, of whom I purchased it. 

I am Dr. Sir, Very truly, 
Yr. Obed't Serv't, 

Thos. L. Winthrop. 

* The committee neglected to mention that in June, 1836, William Lincoln 
read to the Coimcil a letter from the Hon. Henry Prentiss of Hubbardston, 
presenting to the Society a portrait of the late Rev. Thomas Prince of Boston. 



334 American Antiquarian Society 

in a former report of the Council as furnishing a "fit symbol 
of the memory of that excellent officer," our late Librarian, 
who planted most of them with his own hands and cherished 
them, in common with all the interests committed to his care, 
with unwearied assiduity and affection. But it is not these 
plants alone which will "keep his memory green in our souls." 
We have on nearly every page of our transactions, on every 
shelf of our Library, and in the portrait which almost speaks 
to us from its walls, mementoes of his worth, which will sur- 
vive not only while this building lasts, but until the Society 
itself is added to the catalogue of the departed. 

Considerable progress has been made in a more methodical 
arrangement of our books and papers, and the various articles 
which compose our cabinet and museum. 

The second volume of " Archaeologia Americana" is still 
in the press. It is understood that the publication will soon 
be completed and it is hoped that it will constitute a valuable 
contribution to American Literature. 

The Catalogue of the Library, we are happy to say, is in 
course of publication, and nearly one hundred pages are al- 
ready thro' the press. The whole number of pages will prob- 
ably be about five himdred. The superintendent of the pub- 
lication has been entrusted by the Council to a committee of 
which Doct. John Park is chairman. To that gentleman's 
vigilance and industry in comparing the titles with the books 
on the shelves, and in correcting the proof-sheets, the So- 
ciety is under great obHgation. This work, which will of 
itself be a durable memorial of our late Librarian, has been 
long anxiously expected not only by the members of our own 
Society, but by the whole literary public. When completed, it 
will furnish a key to a treasury of learning, which has been, 
for practical purposes, as it were locked up from the public 
use, and which, we think, will hereafter be resorted to with 
great advantage and satisfaction by the scholar and the 
author. 

The vacancy in the office of librarian remains unfilled. 
The causes referred to in former reports as preventing a 
choice, have still existed. It is our opinion, however, that 
there should not be a much longer delay, but that the Council 
soon to be chosen, should proceed, at an early season, to sup- 
ply the vacancy. It gives us pleasure to inform the Society 
that the duties of librarian continue to be discharged, pro 
tempore, in an acceptable manner by the gentleman who has 



Meeting of October 24, i8j6 335 

had the immediate charge of the Library and cabinet since 
the decease of Mr. Baldwin.^ 

There has been no essential change in the state of our 
funds, since the Report made to the Society on the 25th of 
May last. By the Treasurer's semi-annual account, which 
accompanies this Report, it appears that the amount of the 
property belonging to the Society, exclusive of interest ac- 
crued and not received, is $23,751.34, the whole of which is 
supposed to be securely invested. For particulars we refer 
to the Treasurer's statement. All which is respectfully sub- 
mitted. 

Edward D. Bangs ) ^ ... , 
„r T Committee/ 

William Lincoln ) 

Antiquarian Hall, 

October 20th, 1836. 

At a meeting of the Council held Oct. 20, 1836, voted, to 
accept the foregoing Report and to present the same to the 
Society at their next annual meeting as the report of the 
Council. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq. Society tn acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
accH of the General Fund) 

Dr. 

To notes $3901 .86 

Expense, paid to May 24, 1836 2594.48 

Expense, paid from May 24, to Oct. 19^ 679.89 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

$7576.23 
Cr. 

By balance (Oct. 21, 1835) $5108. 13 

By interest, rec'd 1735 . 60 

By cash rec'd on acc't of Middlebury estate 150.CX) 

Balance due the Treasurer on this acc't 582 . 50 

I7576.23 

^ Mr. Maturin L. Fisher, who is termed "Acting Librarian" in the List 
of Officers of 1836. 

^ This report was written by Mr. Bangs. 
' See details at end of report. 



^$6 American Antiquarian Society 

On accH of Librarian's Fund 
Dr. 

To notes $12,186.00 

Uxbridge Bank Stock 500 . 00 

Balance due from the Treasurer on this acc't .98 

$12,686.98 

Cr. 

By am't rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

Interest rec'd. balance after paying the Librarian's salary 

to Oct. 1836 1,173.98 

Interest rec'd since Oct. i 117 .00 

$12,686.98 
On acc't of Fund of $5,000 

To balance due from the Treasurer on this acc't J *i2o .00 

( 545 00 
Notes 5550.00 

$6215.00 
Cr. 
By amount of said Fund May 24, 1836 $6038.00 

Interest rec'd since May 1 ^ 2° • °° 

■^ ( 5700 

$6215.00 

Balance of General F\md imappropriated $3>7i9-36 

Amount of Librarian's Fxmd 12,686.98 

Amount of Fimd of $5000 6,215.00 

Middlebury estate 600 . 00 

Balance due on mortgages in Dixmont, Maine (estimated) . . 530 . 00 

Property of the Society, exclusive of interest accrued and $23,751.34 
not received. 

Sam'l Jennison, 

Treasurer. 
Oct. 19, 1836. 

Expenses paid on acc't of the A. Antiq. Soc'y, front 
May 24 to Oct. ig, 18^6 

May M. L. Fisher's bill $8.85 

July Am't of Pendleton's acc't for lithography on Gookin. . 1 16 . 25 

For postage 2 . 30 

A. Merrifield, carpenter, acc't 37 • 87 

Aug. Postage i . 10 

H. M. Smith, carpenter, acc't 27 .48 

I. Bartlett, painter, acc't i4- 73 

Postage .19 

Postage .19 



Meeting of May ji, i8jy 337 

Sept. Am'ts of Pendleton's acc't for lithograph printing, &c . . 104 . 05 

J. M. Earle for advertising 3 ■ 3^ 

For C. Harding's (portrait painter) 167 .cx3 

For paper p'd Quinsig'd Paper Mills Co., $200 

disc'd $3.50 196-50 

$679.89 



MEETING OF MAY 31, 1837 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Tremont House in Boston, on Wednesday the 31st day 
of May A.D., 1837. 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 

The semi-annual Report of the Council was read, and ac- 
cepted and referred to the Council at Worcester to be dis- 
posed of by them as they may think proper.^ 

The Treasurer's account was presented to the Society, as 
follows — 

Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Ant. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas'r (on 
acc't of Residuary Fund) 
Dr. 

For notes $37°! • 86 

Expenses paid from 1830 to this time 4636 • 55 

Oxford Bank stock 400 . 00 



i.41 

Cr. 

By amt. rec'd of Ex'rs, &c., of I. Thomas as ^-jcjS i^ 

stated in last Report 

Feb'y, 1837. By cash of Ex'rs of I. Thomas toward defraying ^^ ^^ 

expense of printing 2d Vol 

Mch. By cash on acc't of Middlebury estate 5° • 00 

By interest received • 1889.09 

By cash received for 4 copies 2d Vol. of Arch- 

aeologia 9 • 00 

By cash borrowed of Librarian Fund 482 . 00 

By cash borrowed of fimd of $5000 828 . 00 

Balance due the Treas'r 122 . 19 

$8738.41 
^ Printed from the files after the records of this meeting. 



33 8 American Antiquarian Society 

The Am. Ant. Society in accH with S. Jennison Treas'r {on 
accH of Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To amount invested in notes $ii,668 .00 

Blackstone Bank stock 500 . 00 

Cash on hand 575 • 08 

$12,743.08 
Cr. 

By am't rec'd of Exr's of I. Thomas $11,396.00 

Profits Rec'd (interest) beyond the amount paid for Libra- 
rian's salary ^'^97 • 7° 

Interest received since April i 14938 

$12,743.08 

The Am. Ant. Society in acc't with S. Jennison TreasW 

{on accH of Fund of $5,000) 
Dr. 

Amount invested in notes $6278 . 00 

Cash on hand 27 . 82 

$6305.82 
Cr. 

By balance stated in former Report $5928.31 

Interest received 377 .51 

$6305.82 

Balance of Residuary Fund $2669.67 

Librarian's Fund 12,743 .08 

Fund for Antiquarian Researches, &c 6305 . 82 

Middlebury Estate 800 . 00 

Debts due in Maine estimated at 500.00 

$23,018.57 
Expenses Paid since Oct., i8j6 

A. Murdock's Bill $8.37 

S. R. Jackson & Co. for coal 9.11 

S. R. Jackson & Co. for coal 9 . 00 

Paid for insurance 1 1 53 

C. Folsom's bill for printing 2d Vol. Archaeologia loio . 00 

S. R. Jackson & Co. for coal 10 . 00 

M. L. Fisher's bUl 11 .84 

H. J. Rowland's bill for printing 285 . 76 

Paid for postage, &c 8 . 64 

$1364-25 
Samuel Jennison, Treasurer. 
May IS, 1837. 



Meeting oj May ji, iSyj 339 

Voted ^ That the Secretary be requested, in future, in ad- 
dition to the usual notice in the newspapers, to give written 
or printed notice through the Post Office. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society in con- 
formity with the Bye-laws of the Society, respectfully sub- 
mit the following semi-annual Report relating to the concerns 
of the Institution: 

The Library upon a general inspection appears to be in 
good order. The donations have been numerous (and we 
wish we could add of value). The most important has been 
a large paper-bound copy of Spark's Life and Writings of 
Washington presented by several gentlemen in Boston. 
The Anti-slavery Society have also presented about thirty 
volumes and fifty pamphlets. No other donations have been 
made which require particular notice for their extent tho' 
many single volumes have been presented which are of value. 

The report of the Treasurer will show the state of the 
financial concerns of the Society and with the single remark 
that the funds are well secured and that no losses have oc- 
curred, the Council beg to refer to that Report which will be 
presented at the meeting. 

The vacancy in the office of Librarian still remains unfilled. 
But as almost two years have now elapsed since the lamented 
loss of Mr. Baldwin, the Council contemplate that the office 
be now, without unnecessary delay, filled with a permanent 
officer. 

The second volume of the Archaeologia Americana has been 
published and measures have been taken to present copies 
to those societies and individuals who have been benefactors 
to our Society or to whom as literary bodies it may prove an 
acceptable present, 

A great portion of the Catalogue is printed and it is ex- 
pected that before the annual meeting in October the whole 
will be completed and ready to lay before the Society. It 
has been a task of greater magnitude than was contemplated. 

The committee of the Council deem it their duty to allude 
to the actual state of the building, which contains a property 



34© American Antiquarian Society 

which must be esteemed valuable in any community, and 
they therefore beg leave to call the attention of the Society 
to its present condition, not with the expectation of curing 
all the defects which exist, but with the expectation that the 
Society will divert some present alleviation to evils which 
if neglected may seriously endanger the whole structure. 
The building is placed on a soil which is full of springs and 
which appears composed in great part of clay mixed with 
small stones. Small drains have been made in the cellar 
with the hope that the water would run off and leave the 
ground hard. Experience has proved this hope fallacious 
and at this moment the loose soil (or more properly speaking 
the mud) is over a foot in depth all over the cellar, and be- 
low the foundation walls tho' not under them. The Council 
request the attention of the Society to this point and trust 
they will order some steps to be taken which may prevent 
this evil spreading further. 

There are other defects which may not require immediate 
attention, but which in the course of a few years must cause 
a heavy expense. The committee have examined the floor- 
ings and have found that most, if not all of them are rotten. 
They do not, however, think it necessary or advisable to 
take any measures at this time to repair this defect, for even 
in their present decayed state they may and probably will 
last for several years. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

F. W. Paine, for the Committee. 
Antiquarian Hall. 

At a meeting of the Council held May 27, 1837. 

Voted, To adopt the foregoing Report and to present the 
same to the Society at their meeting to be held in Boston, on 
the 31st inst. as the Report of the Council. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g. Sec'y. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1837 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on Monday, October 23, a.d., 
1837. In the absence of the President and Vice-Presidents, 
Hon. Levi Lincoln was called to the Chair. 

The Report of the Council was read, accompanied by Re- 



Meeting of October 2j, i8j^ 341 

ports of the Committee on the Library and of the Treasurer, 
which was accepted and directed to be placed on file.^ 

Voted, That the Report of Council be referred back to the 
Council, with directions to take such measures as to them 
may seem proper in relation to the repairs recommended by 
the Report. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the ensuing 
year, and chose: 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President. 

Hon. John Davis. | Vice-Presidents 
Hon Joseph Story, l^^f^^'-frestaents. 

Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec'y 

His Exc'y Edward Everett, Foreign Corresponding Sec'y. 

William Lincoln, Domestic Corresponding Sec'y. 

Samuel Jennison, Treasurer. 

Benjamin Russell. 

Levi Lincoln. 

Edward D. Bangs. 

James C. Merrill. 

Charles Lowell. 

Saml. M. Burnside. 

Frederick W. Paine. Counsellors. 

John Green. 

John Park. 

Joseph Willard. 

Dr. John Park. 1 

William Lincoln, Esq. > Publishing Committee. 

Alfred D. Foster, Esq. ), 

The Society then proceeded to the admission of members, 
and 

Dr. Lewis Ross, Professor of Archaeologia at Athens, 
Professor Edward Gerhard of the University of Berlin, Rev. 
Dr. John J. Robertson of Syra in Greece, who had been duly 
recommended by the Council, were admitted as foreign mem- 
bers of the Society. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, on the 
twenty-fifth anniversary meeting, respectfully submit the 

* The reports of the Council, the Treasurer, and the Committee on the Library 
are printed after the records of this meeting, from the files. 



342 American Antiquarian Society 

fiftieth semi-annual Report of the condition of the funds, 
property, Hbrary, affairs and interests of the Institution: 

In compliance with the votes of the Society, passed at the 
May meeting of 1834, the monies bequeathed by the father 
of the institution, were invested on interest, and appro- 
priated to the uses appointed by the will of the munificent 
founder. Three distinct funds were created, and by the 
care of the Treasurer have been kept separate to this time; 
two of them were specific, and another was contingent in 
amount. 

The first is the Library Fund, originally twelve thousand 
dollars. The income was appropriated by the direction of 
the Society, according to the terms of the will of the late 
President, Doct. Thomas, for the payment of a salary to a 
Librarian, the purchase of books and antiquities, and for 
other necessary purposes. The annual compensation of six 
hundred dollars has been charged on this fund since the first 
day of April, 1832. The revenue accruing before the ex- 
penditure commenced, with the annual excess of interest 
over the disbursements, have enlarged the fund to $12,750. 
The surplus may enable the society to add to its collections 
some of those great and expensive works, which cannot be 
derived from private liberality, and which form the great at- 
traction and value of public libraries. 

The Second Fund is that of Antiquities and Researches. 
This was five thousand dollars. The interest is to be ap- 
plied annually, in part to the purchasing of books and other 
articles for preservation in the Library and Cabinet of the In- 
stitution, and in part to paying the expenses of employing a 
proper person to explore the ancient fortifications, mounds, 
etc., in the Western States, or other parts of America, and 
in taking plans, views, etc., and giving descriptions of these 
relics of extinguished nations. On this fund has been charged 
the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars, paid to Mr, Baldwin 
on the commencement of the mission, terminating with his 
decease August 20, 1835. The amount of this fund is now 
$6,703.07. 

The third Fund is the Residuary Fund, originally $5704.94. 
On this have been charged the current and extraordinary ex- 
penses since the Society received its pecuniary means. Heavy 
disbursements have been made for great and important 
objects. 

Two wings were added to the central structure of Anti- 



Meeting of October 2j, iS^j 343 

quarian Hall in 1833. Beyond the sum of $1000 bestowed 
by Mr. Thomas, $1037.02 were paid by the Treasurer for ad- 
ditions to the main building, rendered necessary by the ac- 
cumulating treasures of the Society. 

During the past year the second volume of the Transac- 
tions, of most precious contents, has been pubHshed at Cam- 
bridge, under a contract with Messrs Folsom, Wells & Thurs- 
ton. The tabular collections of vocabularies of Indian 
Languages, in Mr. Gallatin's Memoir, rendered the charge of 
printing great. The beauty and accuracy of the typography 
are as honorable to the American press, as the excellence and 
intrinsic worth and high authority of the materials of the 
book will be to the society. The edition of 500 copies cost 
$1009.33, exclusive of the expenses of binding yet unpaid. 

The Catalogue of the Library, long in preparation, has 
very recently been sent from the press of Mr. Henry J. How- 
land of Worcester. It is in very neat style, and will bear 
comparison with any similar work. Five hundred copies 
have been furnished for a little less than $700, exclusive of 
the charges for binding.^ 

Many additions have been made to the accommodations 
of the Library by erecting shelves in the different apartm.ents. 

All these disbursements for purposes of permanent utility 
have been subtracted from the Residuary Fund. They have, 
to some extent, changed the investment from one yielding 
pecuniary revenue, into that which will afford a continually 
increasing income of reputation, and by extending the knowl- 
edge of the good works of the Society, effectually promote 
its ultimate ends. 

The balance of the Residuary Fund, after all these re- 
ductions, is now $2,716.24. The restoration of a small sum 
to the capital, may be expected from the proceeds of the sales 
of the volumes in the hands of the American Stationers Com- 
pany, booksellers of the Society. The exorbitant and un- 
reasonable commissions of 33 per cent, allowed by the custom 
of trade, will bring the avails of the publications, in all prob- 
abihty, below $500. 

The other property of the Society, exclusive of the valuable 
land and buildings in Worcester, is in an estate situated in 

^ This catalogue, a work of several hundred pages, was undoubtedly the 
most extensive catalogue of American publications that had to this time been 
published, and received considerable favorable notice from the reviews of the 
day. At the end is printed a list of the newspapers in the Society's possession. 



344 American Antiquarian Society 

Middlebury, Vt., estimated to be worth $700, remaining in 
the condition stated in former reports, productive of rents, and 
probably increasing in value ; and in mortgages of lands in the 
state of Maine, for debts exceeding $800 and entirely safe. 

The Report of our excellent Treasurer, Samuel Jennison, 
Esq., which is appended, shows that the available funds of 
the Society, including the Middlebury estate and the Maine 
mortgages, are now $23,669.65. 

It will be manifest that although no retrenchment or re- 
form are needed, that strict economy will be expedient to 
preserve the Residuary Fund in such condition, that con- 
tingent charges may be met, without reducing the invest- 
ments which should be held sacred, as devoted to noble 
purposes yet to be accompHshed. 

The condition of the Library, of which any Institution of 
the land might speak with honest pride of possession, is fully 
explained in the Report of the Committee, Edward D. Bangs, 
Esq., and Doct. John Park, to whom the inspection of that 
department was confided by the Council. To the suggestion 
made by those gentlemen, that immediate repairs are needed 
on the roof of the Hall, to prevent the destroying effects of 
the moisture now admitted, it should be added, that prompt 
and instant provision must be made for draining the grounds 
around and below the fair structures, to secure the founda- 
tions. With the exceptions contained in these remarks, the 
buildings are in good condition. 

The Council have availed themselves of the services of 
Maturin L. Fisher, Esq., acting as Librarian, for two years 
past, in the charge of the collections. That gentleman be- 
ing about to retire from the station he has held, Samuel F. 
Haven, Esq., sometime counsellor-at-law in Lowell, and re- 
cently of Dedham, has been elected Librarian.^ The office, 
so important to the Society, requires a rare combination of 
the endowments of nature and acquisitions of study. The 
union of the love of order and of antiquity; the zeal and 
accuracy which connect insulated facts and the perseverance 
and persuasions which seduce private property into the 
deposits of the public; the scrupulous correctness of the an- 
tiquarian and the stirring energy of the man of action; the 
mingled patience and activity, which we have once known as 
the high qualifications for the office, are seldom found in the 

' Mr. Haven had been chosen to this office by the Council on Sept. 23, 1837, 
and entered upon his duties on April i, 1838. 



Meeting of October 2j, iSjy 345 

same individual. It is understood by the Council, and has 
been expressed by Mr. Haven to be his wish, that the rela- 
tion now formed may be considered as experimental, to be 
terminated with the year, if the association during that period, 
should not prove that the connection would continue to be 
mutually agreeable and useful. It is to be hoped that the 
friendly relations thus commenced may be long continued. 

The Rev. Doct. Cogswell has communicated a request that 
an account of the Society might be furnished, for publication 
in the Quarterly Register of the American Education So- 
ciety. While this Society has devoted exertions to preserve 
the records of the past, it has done little to perpetuate the 
memory of its own origin, progress, and prosperity, and noth- 
ing to secure the biography of its own members. Regarding 
the narrative which is solicited, as one which may tend to 
make the Antiquarian Society widely and favorably known, 
it is respectfully submitted to the Society, that it may be ex- 
pedient to appoint a committee to prepare from its annals 
an abstract for the use indicated. 

The volume of the Transactions and of the Catalogue of 
the Library have been distributed to the governments of the 
several United States, to literary, scientific and antiquarian 
societies at home and abroad. The principal libraries of 
Europe have been furnished with copies. This bread cast on 
the waters, after no long time, it may confidently be expected, 
may return again, in hberal benefactions. It may be sug- 
gested, that it will be proper, as a slight testimonial of grati- 
tude for the munificent donation of the publications of the 
Record Commission of England, to transmit the volumes 
presented by the Society in elegant binding to Great Britain, 
with an expression of the just sense of the royal generosity, 
which has bestowed copies of the records of the nation, on 
the institutions of foreign lands. 

In conclusion, the. Council may well and properly con- 
gratulate the Society on the steady prosperity, which for a 
quarter of a century has grown brighter as it has advanced in 
age ; on the increasing reputation and usefulness to result from 
publications and collections of soHd worth ; and on the general 
good condition of its fiscal and historical investments. 

All of which is most respectfully submitted, 

William Lincoln 
Fred. Wm. Paine 
Oct. 23, 1837. Committee of the Council. 



246 American Antiquarian Society 

At a meeting of the Council, Oct. i8, 1837, Voted to adopt 
the foregoing as the report of Council to be made to the 
Society at their next meeting to be held on the 23d inst. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Committee on the Library 

The undersigned, a Committee appointed by the Council 
of the American Antiquarian Society to examine into the 
state of the Library, and report thereon at the meeting to be 
holden by adjournment on the 18th inst., have attended to 
the duty assigned to us. 

Upon a general inspection, we find both the Library and 
Cabinet in good order and condition. It was not in our 
power to make so thorough an examination as we could have 
wished, without subjecting ourselves to a labor which we do 
not suppose it was the intention of the Council to impose 
upon us. A comparison of the books in the cases, with the 
titles in the Catalogue, is desirable, that it may be ascertained 
with certainty whether any volumes embraced in the list are 
missing from our shelves, and whether there are any on the 
shelves not contained in the Catalogue: — but this cannot 
easily be done, until the precise place which each volume and 
each tract occupies is noted in the margin of the Catalogue. 
The acting librarian is now engaged upon this work, and it 
will necessarily occupy a considerable time.^ A more syste- 
matic arrangement of the books is also desirable, and we 
hope may before long take place. 

The donations to the Society since the last annual Report 
amount to about 200 bound volumes, and more than 1,000 
pamphlets; a great proportion of which last, however, are 
duplicates. Among the donations which deserve to be par- 
ticularly mentioned is a set of Sparks ''Writings of Wash- 
ington," in twelve volumes handsomely bound, presented by 
Messrs. John Dorr and William Hales of Boston, for them- 
selves and several other gentlemen whose names are un- 
known. Our venerable president, Gov. Winthrop, has, with 
his accustomed liberality, presented us with several rare and 
valuable books, and among them is Torquemada's "History 

* The Society's copy of the Catalogue, interleaved and bound in three 
volumes, contains the shelf-marks for each title written on the margins. 



Meeting of October 2j, iSjj 347 

of Mexico " in three volumes, folio. We have received several 
town histories from their respective authors and we cannot 
but express our earnest desire that the Society may be put in 
possession of all similar publications which issue from the 
press; they furnish those materials for history which it is the 
province of the antiquary to collect. Mr. John Lees of 
Worcester has given us the Rheimish version of the Bible, of 
the edition of 1601,^ and Francis Gardner, Esq., of Boston, 
has given a copy of Father Hennepin's "New Discovery of a 
Large Country in America." Every donation has been reg- 
ularly entered in the book kept by the Librarian for that 
purpose. 

Altho' not strictly within our commission, we think it our 
duty to observe that there appears to be some defect or de- 
cay in the roof of the building in which the Hbrary is kept, 
in consequence of which the water has penetrated through 
the plaster of the ceiling in several of the rooms. A speedy 
repair seems necessary for the security of the treasures de- 
posited beneath. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

Edward D. Bangs ) ^ 
T Park 1 ^^^''^^^^i^^- 

October 17th, 1837. 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. 

{on accH of Residuary Legacy of I. Thomas) 
Dr. 

To notes $2301 . 86 

Oxford Bank Stock ? 400 . 00 

Expense acc't 4g53 . 48 

Cash on hand 14 . 38 

$7669.72 
Cr. 

By amount rec'd (principal) $5704 . 94 

By interest, rec'd 1964. 78 

$7669.72 

^ "The Text of the New Testament of Jesus Christ translated out of the 
vulgar Latine by the Papists of the traiterous Seminarie at Rheims," etc., 
London, 1601. 



348 American Antiquarian Society 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
accH of Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To notes $12,186.00 

Blackstone Bank Stock 500 . 00 

Cash 64 . 34 



$12,750.34 
Cr. 

By Cash rec'd, May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

Profit and loss (int. beyond the am't paid to Librarian) .... 1,261 . 34 
Interest rec'd since Oct. i 43 • 00 



^12,750.34 



The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
accH of Legacy of 5,000 Dollars) 
Dr. 

To cash $3 .07 

Notes 6700 



$6703 
Cr. 

By amount of said fund, balance Aug. 3, 1835 $5928 

Interest rec'd 774 



$6703 

Balance of Residuary Fund $2,716 

Librarian's Fund 12,750 

Fund of $5000 for research, &c 6,703 

Middlebury estate 700 

Due on mortgages in Maine 800 



07 
76 



07 

24 

34 
07 
00 
00 



$23,669,65 
Sam'l Jennison, 

TreasW. 
October 12, 1837. 



MEETING OF MAY 30, 1838 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Tremont House in Boston on Wednesday the 30th day of 
May A.D., 1838. 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 

The Report of the Council was read by the Secretary, 
whereupon it was 

Voted, That the Report be accepted, and with the Report 
of the Treasurer be recorded. 



Meeting of May jo, i8j8 349 

Voted, That the Council be authorized, in their discretion, 
to dispose of the dupKcate newspapers, pamphlets and tracts 
in the Library of the Society. 

Voted, That the Society proceed to fill the vacancy in the 
Council occasioned by the decease of Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 
Chose Emory Washburn, Esq., of Worcester. 

Voted, To vote for the admission of members. 

Admitted — John Bickerton Williams, LL.D. 
Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas. 
Sir William Bethune. 
DocT. William Blanding. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society on the 
fifty-first semi-annual meeting, present their Report of the 
condition of the funds, library, and property of the Insti- 
tution. 

The money received by the Treasurer from the benefactors 
of the Society, continues to be invested in the manner and 
appropriated to the uses, appointed by the votes of the May 
meeting of 1834, in three distinct funds. 

The Library Fund, charged with the annual salary of the 
Librarian, the purchase of books and antiquities, and with 
necessary expenses, originally twelve thousand dollars, has 
now accumulated to $12,791.99, having been increased by 
the addition of accruing interest to the amount of $791.99. 

The Fund of Antiquities and Researches was originally five 
thousand dollars. The income is reserved for increasing the 
Library and Cabinet and exploring the monuments and re- 
mains of the ancient nations of the continent. This fund now 
amounts to $6,870.07 having increased $1,870.07. 

The Residuary Fund includes the other moneys of the So- 
ciety. To ascertain the original amount of this fund, refer- 
ence must be had to the sums from which the other funds 
have been deducted. The whole amount, exclusive of in- 
terest, which from time to time has been paid into the treas- 
ury is $23,611.84. There now remains in the hands of the 
Treasurer $ 2 2 , 807 . 93 . Showing an excess of the aggregate ex- 



35© American Antiquarian Society 

penditures over the income of $803.91. Had no charges been 
made on the Residuary Fund, it would now have been 
$6,137.53 : the actual amount, at present, is $3,145.87, having 
been diminished $2,991.66. The expenditure of about $1,400 
beyond the bequest of $1,000 by Mr. Thomas for the erection 
of two wings in 1833; of about $1,100 in 1837 for an edition 
of 500 copies of the second volume of the Transactions; of 
about $700 for printing the Catalogue and the cost of con- 
structing shelves and accommodations rendered necessary by 
the increasing collections, have been defrayed from this source. 

Although the disbursements have been for objects of great 
and permanent utihty, it will be desirable, in future, by a 
rigid economy, to restore the integrity of the funds, that the 
Society, trustees of posterity, may transmit undiminished to 
their successors the benefactions of patrons. 

To the several sums already stated are to be added the 
estimated value of the Middlebury estate, in Vermont, $800, 
and of the mortgages of lands in Dixmont, $800, making the 
aggregate of the productive property of the Society $24,407.93 
well invested and secured. The particular details of receipts 
and payments will appear from the Report of Samuel Jenni- 
son, Esq., our Treasurer, which is annexed. 

The income of the present year will be about $1,450. The 
expenditures need not be large. The principal item is the 
salary of the librarian, $600; repairs of the buildings have 
become necessary to preserve the foundations and protect 
the superstructures, which may require an appropriation of 
about $150; fifty dollars may be needed for shelves and 
fixtures; the charges for fuel, lights, postage, transportation, 
stationery, and contingencies, may amount to $100 more; — 
the whole expenses will be near $900, lea\dng $500 of surplus 
revenue. If $100 is applied to binding tracts, $400 will re- 
main to repay almost one half of the debt incurred by bor- 
rowing from the capital of the entire funds. 

On the first day of April last, Samuel F. Haven, Esq., 
elected librarian, in October last, entered on the discharge of 
the duties of the office, and has made preparation to estab- 
lish order in the Library by the systematic arrangement of 
the books, and reference in the catalogue to their places — 
among the collections by assorting the vast masses of un- 
bound newspapers and manuscripts — and through the halls, 
by disposing the antiquities and curiosities in appropriate 
positions. Since the last semi-annual Report, a valuable 



Meeting of May 50, i8j8 351 

addition has been made to the Library by the President. 
The Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop has presented one hundred 
and twenty-eight volumes, selected by a learned antiquarian, 
at the cost of three hundred and fifty dollars. 

They form a rich collection of works illustrative of the 
topography, heraldry and genealogy of England and Wales. 
Olaus Magnus, the venerable Bede, Saville and Camden, are 
among the rare folios. The series of local histories is ex- 
tensive, including those of the Counties of Hereford, Cardi- 
gan, Brecknock, Pembroke, Gloucester, Suffolk, Lincoln and 
Shropshire, and of the cities of London, Oxford and Worces- 
ter. Thirty six volumes relate to genealogy. Collins, and 
the successive editions of Debrett on the Peerage and Baron- 
etage, preserve memorials of many of the extinct, and all of 
the living families of the nobles of England. So large a por- 
tion of our New England community can claim descent from 
Anglo-Saxon stock, and trace with eager curiosity the genera- 
tions of our emigrant ancestors backward to their homes in 
the father-land, that the facilities which have been furnished 
for pursuing researches hitherto defeated at the outset by 
defects of evidence, cannot but be highly appreciated. The 
department of the library which has been thus founded is of 
peculiar interest. Few public collections are endowed with 
so rich a collection of local histories. When dispersed they 
are difficult of access, gathered into one place they are precious 
helps to the inquiries of the antiquarian. It will be greatly 
desirable to make the series perfect, by procuring those works 
of a similar character which have not been already bestowed. 

An acquisition still more interesting to the feelings of the 
Society has recently been made. On the 31st of January 
last, the Council, in view of the repeated acts of liberality of 
the Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, enriching the library and 
advancing the interests of the Society over which he presides, 
requested him to sit for his portrait, to be placed with that of 
his illustrious ancestor, the first governor of Massachusetts, 
in the halls of the institution. On this apphcation, the Presi- 
dent caused his portrait to be painted and presented to us, a 
memorial of great value, as a beautiful specimen of art, but 
more precious as a faithful representation of one whose vir- 
tues have secured warm regard, and whose constant muni- 
ficence has been recognized with respectful gratitude.^ 

^ In Thomas Sully's Register of Portraits, no. 1888, there is listed a half- 
length portrait of Lieut. Gov. Winthrop painted "for his family," as Sully 



352 American Antiquarian Society 

Other additions have been made to the Library. Sir 
Walter Raleigh's History of the World in the edition of 1614, 
and the translation of the New Testament of the Seminary 
at Rheims, 1633, have been presented by S. S. Fabrique of 
Natchez. The whole number of bound volumes received 
during the half year, has been 176, and about 200 tracts and 
pamphlets. On such examination as could be made by the 
Council, without being able to compare the titles of the 
Catalogue with the volumes upon the shelves, the library ap- 
peared to be entire and in good condition. 

From the recent period when Mr. Haven entered upon the 
duties of Librarian, the Council have not required from that 
officer the full and detailed statement of the state of the col- 
lections confided to his care which it has been usual to submit. 

Since the last* meeting of the Society the Council have been 
deprived of one of the most valued of their associates. The 
late Edward D. Bangs, Esq., one of the early members of the 
association, long engaged with its founders in the laborious 
arrangements following its organization, always devoted to 
the promotion of its objects, was lately an active and useful 
member of the board. In the pubHc station held by him 
during twelve successive years, as Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth, entrusted with the records of the fathers of New 
England, he assisted by unwearied personal exertions, by 
free communications and perpetual kindness, those researches 
which have brightened the memories of our noble ancestors. 
By the melancholy event of his decease, the Society have 
suffered the loss of a most faithful officer, and the Council of 
a companion whose mind was stored with the recollections 
of the past, uniting intelligence, integrity and independence 
with gentle manners, refined taste and amiable disposition. 

By his last will Mr. Bangs bestowed a pecuniary bequest 
of two hundred dollars, a donation of the pamphlets in his 
library, and a reversionary legacy of his own portrait,^ ac- 
ceptable evidence of his latest kind feelings toward the So- 
ciety. 

records, in 1831 (Penn. Mag. of Hist. & Biog., vol. 33, p. 209). It has been 
generally assumed that ours is the Sully portrait, but the artistic workmanship 
of the picture is far below the Sully standard, and it seems to be a replica of 
the Osgood portrait in the Mass. Historical Society. Mr. Winthrop presented 
the Osgood portrait to the Historical Society in 1837, and it is doubtful whether 
he would have presented to the Antiquarian Society in 1838 his "family" 
portrait, by Sully, painted in 1831. 

* Mr. Bangs' portrait by Chester Harding now hangs in the Library, and 
is a good specimen of that artist's work. 



Meeting of May jo, i8j8 353 

It will be expedient for the Society to consider the ex- 
pediency of filling the vacancy which has been occasioned in 
the council by a new election. 

There are now large masses of duplicate newspapers and 
tracts which have become cumbrous for their numbers and 
magnitude. It is believed that advantageous exchanges of 
the portions which it is not useful to retain, might be ne- 
gotiated with other societies, and with individuals. These 
surplus treasures have been accumulated until they are op- 
pressive in extent. It is suggested that it may be expe- 
dient for the Society to authorize the Council to dispose of 
this part of their possessions, on the best terms, and for the 
largest returns, they can obtain.^ 

In conclusion the Council may properly renew their con- 
gratulations to the Society on the prosperity which has in- 
creased with its advance, and on the general good condition 
of its affairs. 

All which is most respectfully submitted, 

William Lincoln ) Committee of 
S. M. BuRNSiDE i the Council. 

In Council, May 23, 1838. 

The foregoing Report was read and accepted; and it was 
Voted that the same be presented to the Society at the semi- 
annual meeting to be held in Boston on the 30th instant. 
Attest, 

Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 

At a meeting of the Council of the Am. Ant. Society held 
May 23, 1838. It was voted — 

That the following persons, having been nominated in the 
Council more than one month be recommended by the board 
to the Society for admission as members, to wit — 

John BickertonWilKams, LL.D., of Shrewsbury, in Shrop- 
shire, England, Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Kt. Chancellor of 
the order of St. Michael, London, Sir William Bethune, Kt. 

* The following extract from the Council Records should be here recorded: 
"The Council having been informed that the Massachusetts Historical Society 
have in their Library several volumes of the Letter Book of Gov. Belcher, and 
that the volume now in Antiquarian Hall will complete their set, and believing 
it will be more useful to restore the volume to the original series than to retain 
it in our possession — Voted, to present to the Massachusetts Historical Society 
the volume of Gov. Belcher's Letter Book now in the Library of the ."Vntiquarian 
Society." (See also Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, vol. 2, p. 99.) 



354 



American Antiquarian Society 



Ulster King at Arms, Dublin, Doct. William Blanding, of 
Philadelphia. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Secretary. 



Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiq'n Society in accH with S. Jennison, 
Treas. {on accH of the General or Reserved Fund) 



Dr. 



Nov., 1837. 



Jan., 1838. 



Feb'y 
March 



April 
May 



To am't of notes secured by mortgage and 

personal $2734 . 45 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

To Expenses, Acc't to Oct., 1837 4953 .48 

Cash paid for printing blanks and for 

postage $2 . 94 

Pd. S. R. Jackson & Co. for coal . . 6 . 50 

for postage i . 59 

" coal to S. R. Jackson & Co. 7 . 00 
for insurance to Manuf. 

Mutual Fire Ins. Co 14 90 

for Antiquities Americana to 

T. M. Harris, pr order .... 14.00 

for advertising meetings 2 . 63 

for coal to S. R. Jackson & Co. 6 . 50 

for postage i .32 

Jos. WUlard, Esq's acc't 3. 00 , 

W. Lincoln, Esq's acc't 5 .00 

H. W. Miller for stove 34 -81 

M. L. Fisher acc't 4.01 

S. R. Jackson for coal 6. 50 

for postage i . 63 

recording an assignment .17 

Treas'rs compensation i yr 30. 00 



Balance in Treas'rs hands 



142.50 



II .42 



$8241.85 



Cr. 



Nov. 
Feb., I 
May 



1837- 



By balance of acc't in 1837 $5704.94 

By cash for rent of Middlebury Estate 50 . 00 

By cash for John Low's mortgage in Dixmont 182.59 

By cash of the executor of E. D. Bangs, Esq. . . . 200.00 

Interest account 2104.32 



$8241.85 



Meeting of May jo, i8j8 355 

The American Antiquarian Society in accH with S. Jennison, 
Treas'r (on accH of Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

Notes with mortgage and personal 12,286.00 

Balance in Treasurer's hands 5 . 99 

$12,791.99 
Cr. 

By amo't rec'd to constitute this fund $11,396.00 

By interest rec'd greater than the am't of expenses to Apr'l i 1330 . 44 

By interest rec'd since April i 65 . 55 

$12,791.99 

The American Antiquarian Society in accH with S. Jennison 
Treas'r (on acc't of Fund of $5,000) 
Dr. 

To Notes with mortgage, &c $6850.00 

Balance in Treasurer's hands 20 . 07 



70.07 
Cr. 

By balance in 1835 (Aug't 3) $5928 .31 

Interest received 941 . 76 

$6870.07 

Funds and Property of the Society 

Balance of reserved Fimd as above stated $3, 145 • 87 

Balance of Librarians Fund 12,791 . 99 

Balance of 5000 Dollar Fund 6,870.07 

$22,807.93 

Middlebury Estate estimated $800 

Mortgages in Dixmont 800 1,600 . 00 

$24,407.93 

Amount of principal rec'd from the Estate of I. Thomas, and 
from other sources (exclusive of the Middlebury & Dix- 
mont property) to this time $23,611 . 84 

In possession of the Treasurer 22,807 . 93 



Excess of Expenditure beyond the income $803 . 91 

Signed, Sam'l Jennison, 

Treas't. 
May 21, 1838. 



3S6 American Antiquarian Society 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1838 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on the 23d day of October, 
1838. Hon. John Davis, Vice-President, in the chair. In 
the absence of the Recording Secretary, WilHam Lincoln was 
elected Recording Secretary pro tempore. 

The Report of the Council was presented and read by the 
Secretary, with the Reports of the Librarian, Committee of 
the Library, and Treasurer. 

Voted, That the Council be authorized to make such re- 
pairs as may be required, and to expend such sums as may be 
needed therefor. 

Voted, That the Treasurer's Report be referred to a com- 
mittee of three, to be examined and audited. Hon. Dan'l 
Waldo, A. D. Foster, Esq., and Rev. Mr. Hill, Committee. 

Voted, That the several Reports be accepted and placed on 
file; and that the Librarian be requested to cause such por- 
tions as he may think proper to be published. 

Several gentlemen, having been recommended by the 
Council for admission, as members, the Society proceeded to 
ballot ; and the following gentlemen were elected members : 

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, Mass. 

Geo. Bancroft, Esq., of Boston, Mass. 

Sam'l F. Haven, Esq., of Worcester, Mass. 

Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, Esq., of Washington, D. C. 

The following gentlemen were elected foreign members : 

M. Raoul Rochette, France. 

George Finlay, Esq., Athens, Greece. 

M. CoNSTANTiNE D. ScHiNAS, Athens, Greece. 

The Society then proceeded to the election of officers for 
the year ensuing. 
The following officers were elected : 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President. 

Hon. John Davis. ) jr- „ -j t 
Hon. Joseph Story.) V^^-Prestdents. 

Rejoice Newton, Esq., Rec'g Sec'y. 

His Ex. Edward Everett, Sec. for Foreign Correspondence. 
William Lincoln, Esq., Sec. for Domestic Correspondence. 
Sam'l Jennison, Esq., Treas'r. 



Meeting of October 23, 1838 357 

Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell, Boston. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln, Worcester. 
Hon. James C. Merrill, Boston. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, Boston. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., Worcester. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq., Worcester. 
DocT. John Green, Worcester. 
DocT. John Park, Worcester. 
Jos. Willard, Esq., Boston. 
Emory Washburn, Esq., Worcester. 

Committee of Publications 

Dr. John Park. 
Wm. Lincoln, Esq. 
A. D. Foster, Esq. 

The meeting was then dissolved. 

William Lincoln, 

Rec'd Sec'y pro tempore. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society respect- 
fully submit their twenty-sixth annual Report of the con- 
dition of the property and affairs of the Institution: 

They congratulate the Society upon the general prosperity 
of the Institution, and although no marked progress in at- 
taining the objects of the association has distinguished the 
past year, as its purposes are better understood, its claims 
upon public favor are the more readily acknowledged and will, 
they trust, be the more eminently answered. 

Of the state of the funds, they have little occasion to speak 
beyond the accompanying Report of the faithful and accu- 
rate Treasurer of the Society, by which it will appear that 
the whole amount of the funds exclusive of the property in 
Middlebury, Vermont, and mortgages upon property in 
Dixmont, is $23,019.08, and if to this is added the estimated 
value of the property and mortgages above mentioned, the 
total amount is $24,619.08. 

For a history of these funds and the expenditures from 
time to time which have been paid from them, the Council 
would refer to their former reports, especially that of October, 
1837, and May, 1838. 



35^ American Antiquarian Society 

The charges upon the general Fund of the Society since 
the last semi-annual Report have amounted to $156.65, in- 
cluding the carpenters work and painting done upon the 
building of the Society and referred to in the Librarian's 
Report that accompanies this Report. 

Notwithstanding the heavy expenses heretofore incurred 
by the Society, so carefully and economically have their 
funds been managed that the present excess of expenditures 
over the income of the funds is only $592.76 in the aggregate. 

No considerable extraordinary expenses on account of the 
building and grounds of the Society are anticipated except 
what may become necessary to prevent the leakages in the 
roofs of the wings of the Hall, and the consequent accruing 
interest upon the funds will soon restore them to their origi- 
nal aggregate amount. 

Allusion has been made to the state of the roofs of the 
wings of the Antiquarian Hall and it only need be added 
that it will be necessary to cause the same to be repaired in 
order to preserve the building as the rain now penetrates to 
some extent in the case of storms into the chambers of the 
wings. 

The Council would venture to recommend the expenditure 
of a reasonable amount in completing the improvements upon 
the grounds around the Antiquarian Hall. By extending a 
dense row of trees along the now open sides of these grounds, 
a great safeguard will be provided against the danger from 
fire arising from the burning of any of the neighboring dwell- 
ing houses, and great beauty will be added to this sequestered 
spot which amid the bustle and stir of a village, has all the 
quiet which the scholar and antiquar}'^ could desire.^ 

The Council would refer to the accompanying Report of 
their Committee upon the state of the Library, and the full 
and satisfactory statement of the Librarian which is also 
herewith submitted as presenting to the Society a complete 
view of the condition of their invaluable collection of books. 

* The two following entries from the Council records are for convenience 
given here: — Nov. 28, 1832 Voted, That Col. Sam'l Damon" of Holden, in 
consideration of his conveying to the Society all his right and title to any land 
now included in the wall of the yard of Antiquarian Hall, shall with his im- 
mediate family have the privilege of visiting Antiquarian Hall at all hours 
when the Hall is kept open for visitors under the rules of the Society. Feb. 22, 
1837, William Lincoln having produced a deed from Col. Samuel Damon of 
Holden, voluntarily conveying to the Society certain lands adjoining the lot on 
which Antiquarian Hall stands — Voted, that the Council accept said deed, 
and tender the thanks of the Council to Col. Damon for his valuable donation. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8j8 359 

To the faithfulness, zeal and attention of the Librarian to 
the duties of his department, the Council cheerfully accord 
their testimony, and the neatness and good order which pre- 
vail through the various departments under his charge evince 
a commendable regard to the lighter as well as the more 
severe duties of his office. 

Under his management they hope soon to see this most 
valuable and interesting collection of books and papers as- 
suming that order and arrangement which will render them 
easily accessible to those who seek here for the stores of 
historical and antiquarian knowledge with which the library 
of the Society is so highly enriched. 

Of such a library as now belongs to the Antiquarian So- 
ciety any association might justly be proud. It has grown 
into its present condition by the munificence of the liberal 
minded friends of science and literature, upon the noble 
foundation laid by its first and most munificent benefactor. 
But much remains to be accomplished before its friends 
ought to be content to rest from their exertions in its behalf. 
Efforts have been made the last year to awaken an interest 
in the subject in other States, and the hope is fondly enter- 
tained that these efforts may not be without success. 
Respectfully — 

Emory Washburn ) ^ ... 
John Park ) 

Oct. 21, 1838. 

Report of the Committee on the Library 

The Committee on the Library respectfully submit to the 
Council of the American Antiquarian Society their Report: 

They have examined the general condition of the Library 
as carefull)^ as was practicable without taking the volumes 
from the shelves and comparing the titles with the catalogue, 
the only process by which the absence of any could be ascer- 
tained. They found the apartments of the Hall neat, and 
in good order, and the books well preserved. The statement 
of the extent of additions, of the new accommodations which 
have been provided, and of the improvements which have 
been made, or proposed, contained in the annexed report of 
the Librarian, is so full and satisfactory, that they may well 
waive further explanations on the subject so clearly presented 
by that officer. 



360 American Antiquarian Society 

On looking backward to find the sources from which the 
donations were derived which have enriched the collections 
since the last semi-annual meeting of the Society, it is obvious 
that less has been received from the liberality of members 
than from the munificence of public associations, and friends 
having no other connection with the Institution than that 
which springs from a regard for its usefulness. The Hon. 
John Davis and the Hon. Levi Lincoln, have each presented 
many tracts and documents; Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., be- 
stowed a copy-book of 17 18 and files of the Columbian Cen- 
tinel for many years; Doct. John Green procured an ancient 
ordination sermon; and G. Folsom, Esq., forwarded a Welch 
Magazine of 1838, and an essay from the North American 
Review on the voyages of the Zeni. The names of the other 
gentlemen borne on the roll of members, unfortunately have 
not been repeated in the list of donations for the last half 
year. Probably the neglect to give evidence of a desire to 
promote the objects of the Society is to be attributed, less to 
want of interest in its purposes, than to failure of recollection 
of the obligations of the pleasant claim they have permitted 
to be imposed on their exertions, by the acceptance of the 
relation of membership. If each could be induced, at least 
annually, to add only one volume or single relic of the past to 
thfe collections, the resulting benefit would be of no incon- 
siderable value. The tax thus assessed would be too light to 
be onerous. There are so many modes by which an anti- 
quarian can convey private property to public uses — there 
are so many volumes which are not prized by their owners, so 
many files of newspapers which are encumbrances to their 
possessors, but which would enhance the interest of our col- 
lections, that it cannot be doubted that each would gladly, 
on application, furnish some practical testimonial of regard. 
It is respectfully submitted that it would be expedient, by 
a circular letter, to apprise each member of the pri\'ilege, which 
he is entitled to exercise, of depositing here any rare book, or 
curious article, which is held by himself or his friends. 

While the Library of the Society by its gradual but regular 
increase, is becoming extensive, probably in its collections of 
general literature or science, it will never bear favorable com- 
parison with the depositories of the works of the learned 
formed in the cities, at the universities or by the govern- 
ments. In one department it is rich already and may be- 
come unrivalled. 



Meeting of October 23, i8j8 361 

The collection of American Newspapers printed before 
the Revolution is larger and more perfect than any other in 
the United States; it is probable, that of those since the 
establishment of the Constitution, the number is greater 
than could be found elsewhere. It is desirable to take more 
effectual care for the preservation of those of our own time, 
which in the course of centuries will gain the flavor of age. 
It is probable that some member or liberal individual in each 
of the States of the Union could be easily persuaded to trans- 
mit one or more of the leading journals of the day and per- 
haps to gather files of past years. The Hmited means of the 
Society have prevented their acquiring any of these periodicals 
by subscription, and they have depended for the increase of 
their stores on the generosity of individuals. That gener- 
osity would be stirred into more intense action by direct and 
repeated applications and it is recommended to frame a 
letter presenting the objects of sohciting such aid, to be dis- 
tributed among those who would respond to the invitation 
with cordial willingness. 

Another department now deficient may be made infinitely 
more complete, and assume a character of great value. The 
garrets are still rich with unexplored treasures. There is 
scarcely one family of the descendants of the earty planters or 
of settlers emigrating from the fountains of population to 
spread the beauty of cultivation over New England, which 
has not files or boxes of papers, correspondence, and memo- 
rials of the wars of the Province, or of the Revolution, or 
illustrative of the events of history. The improved diligence 
of modern writers has given just appreciation of the peculiar 
interest of manuscript materials, and other societies have 
been carefully gathering up these fragments, on the true an- 
tiquarian principle that nothing should be lost. It is believed 
that if some fit individual in each town should be solicited to 
procure copies of old records and to extract from the places 
of their repose, original writings, that a collection might be 
gained of rare interest. So little is lost by asking for what is 
wanted that the experiment might be safely tried; in any 
event of success or failure, it would make the institution 
better and more favorably known. 

When the catalogue of duplicates shall have been com- 
pleted, great accessions may be derived from the negotiation 
of exchanges of the surplus masses of tracts and prints which 
now encumber the Hall. 



362 American Antiquarian Society 

The work is one of great labor from its extent, but it is 
hoped that good progress in its execution may be made dur- 
ing the winter, and that this dead capital which now lies im- 
improved may be converted into an available fund. 

To prevent the undue accumulation of tracts and news- 
papers, which threatens to require the opening of another 
attic to serve as a safety valve for the preservation of the 
neatness of the rooms, it is desirable that an appropriation 
should be made for binding the collections of each year. 
When the huge folio volume of a newspaper is completed, it 
would be useful that it should be forthwith prepared to take 
its place upon the shelves where it may be conveniently con- 
sulted. The same remark applies to pamphlets which derive 
enhanced value from being arranged in regular series, and are 
best accessible for use when bound. 

All which is submitted. 

William Lincoln ) ^ ... 
T- TIT- -r» I Committee. 

Fred. Wm. Paine 



Treasurer's Report 

American Antiquarian Society in account with S. Jennison, 
TreasW, on account of the General Fund 
Dr. 

To notes $2699 . 99 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Expense account to May, 1838 $5095.98 

1838 

July Expense of labor p'd E. Hemmenway ... 10. 75 

P'd for postage April to July 6 . 59 

J. Bartlett's acc't for painting 23 .00 

C. Harris acc't for books and stationery 

for Librarian and Committee 6-6 

Aug't For services and recording deed of S. 

Damon i . 01 

Oct. For advertising meetings 2 . 26 

H. N. Tower's acc't for carpenters work . . 81 .8i 5252 .63 

$8352.62 
Cr. 

By balance of this acc't in May, 1838 $6137 . 53 

Balance due the Treas'r 19.21 

" " on cash acc't iS-54 

By interest rec'd to this time 2180.34 

$8352.62 



Meeting of October 2j, 1838 363 

The Am. Antiq. Society in account with S. Jennison, TreasW^ 

on account of Librarian's Fund 
Dr. 

To notes $7850 . 00 

Cash in Treas'rs hands 13 • 75 



CH. ■ -" 

By balance Aug't, 1835 $5928 .31 

By interest rec'd since Aug't 1835 1148.44 

Amo't due to other fund 787 . 00 

$7863.75 

Amo't of Funds etc., of the Society at this time 

Balance of General Fund as above stated $3,084.45 

Balance of Librarians Fund 12,857 .88 

Balance of Fund of $5,000 7,076 . 75 

$23,019.08 

Middlebury Estate estimated at 800 . 00 

Mortgages on land in Dixmont 800 . 00 

$24,619.08 

Amount received from the Estate of I. Thomas and other 
sources of principal exclusive of the Middlebury and Dix- 
mont property $23,611 .84 

In the Treasurer's possession at this time, as above stated 23,019.08 

Excess of expenditures beyond the income $592.76 

Sam'l Jennison, 
October 15th, 1838 Treas'r. 

The Committee of the American Antiquarian Society, con- 
sisting of Daniel Waldo, A. D. Foster, and the Rev. Mr. 
Hill, appointed at the last annual meeting of the Society to 
examine the accounts of their Treasurer, having performed 
that service, Report; 

That the said accounts are correctly stated, well vouched 
and rightly cast. The Committee also examined and com- 
pared the certificates of Bank Stock, and also the Promissory 
Notes with the names and the sums on the covers, and found 
them to correspond. 

In behalf of the Committee, 

Daniel Waldo, Chairman. 



364 American Antiquarian Society 

Librarian's Report 

In presenting his first report of the condition and progress 
of the interests committed to his charge, the Librarian would 
remark, that if any expectations had been formed of very im- 
portant general improvements in the library, or of great ad- 
ditions to the Society's collections, since he entered upon 
the duties of his office, they will probably be disappointed. 

Had he been able, as yet, to obtain a satisfactory knowl- 
edge of what has been heretofore accompUshed — by ascer- 
taining the nature and value of the materials now in possession, 
as to how far they are complete, and in what respects im- 
perfect, and had he become familiar with the various forms 
and particulars of duty depending upon him, so as to com- 
prehend fully the mode and the means of making himself 
most useful to the institution, he would have more than 
reahzed his own anticipations. The constant advice and 
particular direction of the Council are still especially needed, 
and his sense of the courtesy universally manifested by them, 
naturally creates a confidence that their assistance will con- 
tinue to be freely and considerately rendered. 

On commencing his duties the present Librarian found him- 
self in the midst of a library ahnost over-flowing with the re- 
sults of the dihgence of his predecessors and of public and 
private liberality. 

An alphabetical Catalogue of this miscellaneous collection 
had just been completed; leaving, as the next necessary 
step, a methodical and philosophical arrangement according 
to subjects, having due regard to external appearance — 
with a reference from the Catalogue to the position of each. 
A judicious accomplishment of this duty is not without its 
difficulties in any case; but where familiarity with the general 
contents of the Library does not exist, the task must be com- 
plex in itself and very gradual in its progress. As a knowl- 
edge of the materials to be operated upon is indispensable, 
so on the other hand, some degree of arrangement is re- 
quisite for the acquisition of that knowledge; thus an un- 
avoidable repetition of labor will often occur, before, with 
the aid of experience and observation, the Library can be 
placed in that desirable condition when access to any and all 
of its treasures shall be at once ready and convenient. 

Intimately connected with the labors above stated are the 
separation and assortment of duplicates. These, from their 



Meeting of October 25, i8j8 365 

apparent numbers and value, will constitute an important 
means of increase, if disposed of by sale or in the way of ex- 
change. 

A very large collection of unassorted newspapers, and a 
considerable accumulation of pamphlets, in the same situation, 
also await the leisure of the Librarian from ordinary and in- 
cidental duties. 

Some changes necessary for the promotion and continuance 
of order in the arrangements of the Library have been made 
within the last six months. By direction of a committee of 
the Council, a very convenient space in the attic, hitherto 
unoccupied for want of light — has been brought into use by 
the insertion of windows in the roof. Into this receptacle a 
vast mass of rubbish, that encumbered the rooms below, has 
been removed. The shelves and boxes there economically 
fitted up, afford an appropriate place for a loose and chaotic 
assemblage of papers and pamphlets, from which all that is 
worthy of preservation may now, with comparative ease, be 
sifted. 

New and permanent shelves for the volumes of bound 
newspapers have been placed on the Westerly side of the 
upper room in the North wing, where rude and temporary 
cases formerly stood, without profitably improving the space. 

This alteration, while adding very much to the neat appear- 
ance of the room, has enabled the Librarian to remove many 
volumes of newspapers from shelves in other apartments 
which were required for different purposes, to the place where 
they properly belong. 

The accommodations for bound pamphlets have also been 
doubled by the erection of shelves in the room devoted to 
books of that class. This improvement was immediately 
needed for the arrangement of numerous VDlmnes now scat- 
tered in different locations, and for the reception of such 
tracts as may be selected for binding. 

Shelves have also been put up in other situations, where 
convenient space could be found for the purpose. 

Another change, of some importance, has been produced, 
by the collection and arrangement in the Cabinet of all the 
ancient relics and articles of curiosity which have been here- 
tofore distributed about the building. These have been the 
means of giving to the institution a museum character, foreign 
to its objects, and in danger of proving somewhat derogatory 
to its dignity, as they have served to attract a class of peo- 



366 American Antiquarian Society 

pie, seeking employment for an idle hour, without profit to 
themselves, and therefore of no pubHc benefit. As now sit- 
uated, these articles can be examined more advantageously, 
and be exhibited under such circumstances, and on such oc- 
casions, as the Council may direct. 

It should not be omitted in a statement of alterations and 
improvements, that the room in which the extensive private 
library of one of the members of the Council was deposited, 
has been put in order by himself,^ and, being ornamented with 
beautiful engravings, is now one of the most interesting 
apartments of the building, adding greatly to the effect of our 
interior arrangements. 

Several of the portraits, and other paintings, belonging to 
the Society, whose real merit was seriously obscured by the 
stains of time, and the decay of the frames in which they 
were set, have been repaired and placed in frames more ac- 
cordant with their value. Among these the ancient portrait 
of the first Governor of Massachusetts, the venerable Win- 
throp — bears striking evidence of improvement. The other 
portraits, thus restored, are those of the Mather's, whose 
brightened aspect may be easily fancied to express a lively 
appreciation of the courtesy extended to them. 

The additions to the library and general collections, dur- 
ing the past six months, consist of between three and four 
hundred pamphlets, about fifty bound volumes, and fifteen 
or twenty articles of curiosity; besides many files, more or 
less perfect, of newspapers. Of the latter some are new and 
valuable, while others will serve to make up deficiencies in 
other volumes, and to be used for the purpose of exchange. 
A list of these donations, duly recorded, accompanies this 
Report. Some of the volumes are of considerable intrinsic 
and pecuniary value. 

Besides the actual donations, the Librarian mentions with 
satisfaction that a respectable number of promises have been 
bestowed, the results of which may appear in a future report. 

The remaining volumes of the British Record Commission 
have arrived in New York and will soon be received. 

A circular letter has been prepared, according to a vote of 
the Council, which is to be addressed to the Governors of the 
several States of the Union, in the hope, that by calling the 
attention of public authorities to the nature and design of 
this institution, a perfect series of Legislative documents of 
^ Mr. William Lincoln. 



Meeting of May 2g, i8jg 367 

our own country, including all publications issued under 
legislative sanction, may be secured to the Library.^ 

Among the articles of curiosity and value, presented to 
the Society, it is proper to notice particularly, the Clock,^ 
formerly the property of Gov'r Hancock, still in good order, 
and an accurate tune-keeper. Apart from its historical in- 
terest this is an exceedingly convenient and useful appendage 
to the hall. For this acceptable gift our thanks are due to 
John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven, 

Librarian. 



MEETING OF MAY 29, 1839 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
Tremont House in Boston, on May 29, 1839. 

Hon. Tho's L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 

The record of the proceedings of the meeting in October 
last were read by the Secretary. 

Report of the Council was read — also Reports of the 
Treasurer and Librarian.^ 

The Report of the Council was accepted. 

Voted, That the Report of the Treasurer be referred to a 
committee to be audited, and that they be directed to report 
to the Council. Chose Hon. Daniel Waldo, A. D. Foster, 
Esq., Rev. Alonzo Hill as committee. 

Voted, That Joseph Willard, Esq., be a committee to re- 
ceive apart and count the votes for the admission of members, 
and that the Society now proceed to ballot for the admission 
of members. 

Chose W'm. H. Prescott, Boston. 

1 This circular was printed in a quarto letter of two pages. A copy is pre- 
served in the Society's files. 

^ This is entered in the book of donations as "a valuable clock with chimes, 
striking the hours and the quarters of an hour — formerly the property of 
Gov. John Hancock, presented by John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham." For 
a further account of it, see Proceedings, vol. 7, p. 217; and Frances C. Morse's 
"Furniture of the Olden Time," pp. 319-321. 

^ The reports of the Council and of the Librarian, together with a Catalogue 
of officers and members and an abstract of the reports of the October meeting, 
were printed by the Society in pamphlet form. Because of the scarcity of this 
pamphlet, and in order to give the present series of records completeness during 
the period covered, they are here reprinted. The Treasurer's report is printed 
directly from the Record Book. 



368 American Antiquarian Society 

Foreign Members 

Professor C. A. Brandis of the University of Bonne. 

M. Alexandre Rizo Rangabe, Sec'y of the Archeological 
Soc'y of Athens. 

M. George Argyropoulos of Athens.^ 

Moved by the Rev. Dr. Robbins — That a committee be 
appointed to consider the best means of encouraging the pro- 
duction of a comprehensive history of the United States, from 
the earhest settlement of the Country, which passed in the 
affirmative. 

Voted, To choose a committee to nominate the above com- 
mittee. 

Chose Hon. Levi Lincohi and Hon. John Davis, who nomi- 
nated as such committee Rev. Dr. Robbins, Hon. John 
Quincy Adams, and Hon. Josiah Quincy, which nomination 
was accepted. 

Voted, That the Council publish the Report of the Council 
and such parts of the reports of the Treasurer and Librarian 
as they may think proper. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Attest, 

R. Newton, Rec. Sec^y. 

^ The following letter from Mr. Winthrop is of interest, especially for its 
reference to the losing of the plate of the Society's diploma: 

Boston, April 20th, 1839. 
Dear Sir: 

The Rev. Dr. Robertson in his letter to me of October, mentions 
the names of Professor C. A. Brandis, of the University of Borm, M. Alexander 
Rizo Rangab6, Secretary of the Arch'l Society of Athens, and M. George 
Argyropoulos, a gentleman distinguished for his extensive learning, as making, 
if elected, useful members of the American Antiquarian Society; Professor 
Brandis is at present writing the History of Greek and Roman Philosophy. 
M. Raoul Rochette, and George Finlay, Esq'rs, mentioned in a former letter, 
have I understand, been elected, but their diplomas have not been executed. 

Mr. George H. Child, the person employed by me to search for the Society's 
plate, and the blanks for diplomas prepared by Pendleton, has made no further 
discover}'; he expresses strong doubt if the plate will be found. The Society 
will probably adopt some measure to compel Mr. Pendleton to furnish a new 
plate, or to pay a reasonable sum for that which by his negligence has been 
lost. 

I am respectfully, 
Dear Sir, 

Yr. Obed't Serv't, 
Thomas L. Winthrop. 
William Lincoln, Esq. 
Domestic Sec'y Am'n Ant. Society. 



Meeting of May 2g, i8jg 369 

Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, in com- 
pliance with the provisions of the by-laws, on the fifty-third 
semi-annual meeting, respectfully submit their report of the 
condition of the funds, library, and concerns of the institution, 
at the close of the month of May, 1839. 

The state of the treasury will be most conveniently ex- 
plained by comparison of the investments and revenues, with 
the necessary and contingent expenditures. 

By the order of the Society, at the May meeting of 1834, 
the sum of twelve thousand dollars was invested in one fund, 
and the interest was appropriated, in conformity with the ap- 
pointment of the donor, Doct. Isaiah Thomas, for the payment 
of the salary of a librarian, for the purchase of books and 
antiquities, and for meeting the incidental charges of the in- 
stitution. 

Another fund of five thousand dollars was established, and 
the accruing' income appropriated for defraying the expenses 
of exploring the ancient monuments of the continent, pre- 
serving descriptions of the remains of the aboriginal popula- 
tion, and aiding in the increase of the library and cabinet. 

The general fund, now amounting to about three thousand 
dollars, remained, and was charged with current and extraor- 
dinary expenses. 

The revenues are derived from the interest on these funds, 
amounting together to $23,125; from the income of a prin- 
cipal of eight hundred dollars received from the donor in 
notes secured by mortgages of lands in Dixmont in Maine; 
and from the rents of an estate in Middlebury, Vermont, 
yielding about fifty dollars annually. 

The available productive property of the society, exclusive 
of the buildings of Antiquarian Hall, of the land in Worces- 
ter, and of the library and cabinet, which have a value be- 
yond any estimation in money, is now $24,725.04. 

The condition of each of the funds is ediibited in the full 
and detailed report of the treasurer, Samuel Jennison, Esq., 
and will be seen by the following abstract of his accounts: 

1. Balance of the Library Fund $12,945. 13 

2. Balance of the Fund of Antiquities and Researches . 7,219 . 58 

3. Balance of the General Fund 2,960 . 33 

4. Amount of mortgages in Dixmont, Maine 800.00 

5. Value of Middlebury estate, estimated at only .... 800.00 

$24,725.04 



370 American Antiquarian Society 

The yearly income is about fourteen hundred and eighty- 
two dollars. 

Some expenditures necessary for the maintenance and sup- 
port of the Society, are certain in amount and regular in their 
recurrence. 

Among them are the salaries of the only two officers receiv- 
ing any pecuniary compensation, which have been graduated 
on a scale of rigid economy. The Treasurer has had the re- 
sponsibility of the management and investment of a capital of 
more than twenty-four thousand dollars, and the care of 
the receipt and disbursement of the interest, coming in and 
paid out in small sums. So prudent and faithful has been his 
admjinistration of this department, that nothing has been 
lost, and the principal remains safely invested in permanent 
securities. During the last year the Treasurer has charged 
for his services, thirty dollars; a sum which would not be an 
adequate compensation to another for the mere labor of mak- 
ing the proper entries on the books of the transactions of 
business. The salary of the Librarian has been fixed at six 
hundred dollars annually. That officer devotes almost the 
whole of his time to the discharge of his regular duties, and 
has been constantly engaged in promoting the objects and 
interests of the Society with a degree of assiduity, energy, and 
zeal, which cannot fail to produce the most useful results. 
It must be considered fortunate for the institution to have 
enlisted in its service, so much experience and capacity; and 
it is gratifying that those who have been entrusted with the 
active management of its affairs, have sought the largest 
portion of the remuneration for faithful and valuable labors 
in the gratification of antiquarian taste and the reward of 
doing good. 

The preservation of the buildings of the Society requires 
annual appropriations. The renewal of those parts of the 
structures impaired by decay, and the improvements of the 
interior of the halls for the convenient arrangement and use 
of the increasing library, will demand an annual expenditure 
of not less than one hundred dollars. 

With the ordinar>^ success of collection and the usual liber- 
ality of donation, the sum of one hundred dollars will be re- 
quired for binding into volumes, the tracts, newspapers, and 
manuscripts, and renovating decayed books, during the year. 

The average charge of printing, if confined to advertising 
notices of meetings and communicating information to the 



Meeting of May 2p, i8jg 371 

members on subjects connected with the interests of the 
Society, will be small: united with the payments for sta- 
tionery, postage, transportation, fuel and Hght, the aggregate 
may be estimated at about seventy-five dollars the year. 

The necessary expenses will be about nine hundred and 
five dollars annually, as will appear by the following re- 
capitulation: 

1. Salaries of the Treasurer and Librarian $630.00 

2. Repairs and improvements 100.00 

3. Binding tracts, newspapers, and books 100.00 

4. Printing, transportation, fuel, &c 75 00 

$905.00 

When these sums shall have been deducted from the annual 
income, there will remain about five hundred and seventy- 
seven dollars unexpended. 

In the former reports of the Council it has been fully ex- 
plained that some encroachments were made on the original 
amount of the funds, under the direction and by the order of 
the Society. Two wings were added to Antiquarian Hall to 
furnish accommodations for the swelling collections, in 1833, 
at the cost of $1,037.02; the publication of the second vol- 
ume of Transactions, in 1837, containing the excellent me- 
moir on the languages of the Indian tribes by the Hon. Al- 
bert Gallatin, and Gookin's history of the Christian Indians, 
was made at the expense of about $1,100; the edition of the 
catalogue of the library in a large octavo volume, required 
the payment of about eight hundred dollars. These dis- 
bursements, for objects of permanent utility, changed some 
portion of the moneys from the investments which yield 
pecuniary revenue into a form in which they will afford an 
income of reputation, and aid the objects of the Society by 
extending the knowledge of its works. 

The sums which have been received by the treasurer in 
money, amounted to $23,661.84; the funds remaining in his 
possession, exclusive of the estate in Vermont and the mort- 
gages in Maine are $23,125.04: the difference of these 
sums, being the excess of expenditure over income, is $536.80. 

The Council, desirous of restoring the integrity of the origi- 
nal funds, and considering the deficiency which had been pro- 
duced by the expenditures for useful purposes, as a debt due 
from the Society to posterity, for whom they are trustees, 
endeavored to make a system of economy operate as a sinking 



372 American Antiquarian Society 

fund for the redemption of the arrears. Between the May 
and October meetings of 1838, the balance was reduced by 
the reimbursement of $211,15: — during the past six months 
$55.96 have been repaid: previous to the annual meeting in 
October next, two hundred dollars more may be extinguished 
by the appropriation of the surplus revenue. 

Some considerable extraordinary work will be needed on the 
roofs of the Halls, for draining the grounds around, and to se- 
cure the foundations of the buildings, which may absorb two 
hundred dollars of the disposable income. 

A debt of two hundred and twenty dollars for binding two 
hundred and twenty volumes of newspapers, which has been 
recently incurred, must be drawn from the treasury imme- 
diately. A large portion of this sum will ultmiately be re- 
stored by the collection of some arrears of interest not in- 
cluded in the accounts from which these computations have 
been derived; but this payment will, for the present, entirely 
exhaust the resources of the year. 

From these statements it will be obvious, that it must be 
proper to forego the purchase of books, and to rely for the in- 
crease of the library on the liberaUty of members and the 
generosity of the public. The necessity of retrenchment, 
should prevent, for a season, the attempt to make any con- 
siderable publications. The interval of the suspended motion 
of the press, may be well employed in seeking authentic 
memorials of the relics of the aboriginal nations of the west, 
or the evidence of facts which have been supposed to prove 
the early discoveries of the Northmen in the east. 

Whenever the improved condition of the treasury will per- 
mit new acquisitions by purchase, it will be desirable to devote 
the first moneys which may be saved from necessary appro- 
priations, to extend one department of the library now de- 
plorably scanty. At the earliest time when it shall be possible, 
there should be placed on the shelves, Lord Kingsborough's 
edition of the work of Augustine Aglio ; the folios of Frederic 
de Waldeck,on the antiquities of Mexico, the ruins of Palenque, 
and the archasology of Central America ; and those other rare 
or recent works which illustrate the history of the southern 
continent. 

Improvements have been made during the spring season on 
the grounds of the Society. The belt of trees flourishing on 
the front of the Hall has been extended along the sides and 
rear, and at no distant period, the library will be embowered 



Meeting of May 29, i8jq 373 

amid the shade of evergreens, forming walls of perennial ver- 
dure to separate the still retreat of the antiquarian from the 
busy stir of the modern world. 

Free access to the collections has been permitted to visitors. 
During one hour of each day the halls have been open to 
every citizen, whether attracted by curiosity or in pursuit of 
information; during all hours they have been accessible to 
every student of history or of literature who sought the use 
of the library. The task of attendance thus imposed on the 
Librarian has been onerous. It has been believed that such 
liberality would secure, as it would merit, the favor of the 
public for an institution which shared its benefits freely with 
the whole community. 

An excellent memoir on the Library has been presented to 
the Council by the Librarian, Samuel F. Haven, Esq., and is 
communicated to the Society with this report. It explains the 
accessions made during the past semi-annual period, the plans 
proposed for future collections, and the system of arrangement 
he has matured. 

The extent of the Library may be measured with some accu- 
racy by examining the Catalogue of 552 printed pages, enume- 
rating more than twelve thousand volumes; the value would 
only be realized by diligent inspection of the alcoves and 
study in the halls. 

Among the oldest books in the collection, are, a treatise on 
natural history, unfortunately divested of the first and last 
sheets which might verify the date of production ; but sup- 
posed, from internal evidence, to have been printed as early 
as 1470, within fifteen years after the invention of metal t>^es, 
and only forty years after the discovery of the art of printing; 
full of grotesque cuts of the animals, plants, and minerals 
described in the text, strangely rude efforts of the first de- 
signers for the letter press of Germany;^ a copy, in perfect 
preservation, of the beautiful Venetian Bible of 1476; the 
"Summa Theologia," of Raynerius, magnificently illuminated, 
at Venice, in i486; and editions of the holy scriptures in 
many languages, esteemed to be rarities of t3Apography. 

The Library has been enlarged by a gradual but regular in- 
crease, year by year. It cannot be hoped that it will ever be 
able to bear favorable comparison in the amount of literature 
or science, with the depositaries of the works of the learned, 

^ This volume has since been identified as Meidenbach's Hortus Sanitatis, 
printed at Mainz in 1491. 



374 American Antiquarian Society 

founded in the cities, or at the universities, or sustained by 
the patronage of the federal and state governments. In some 
departments, however, the Society may be considered already 
rich. 

The remains of the libraries of the Mathers, were many 
years since given to the Society; many "lesser composures" 
of the fathers of New England were preserved by these men 
of much learning, which otherwise might have perished. The 
late president, Dr. Isaiah Thomas, enjoyed rare advantages 
for gathering the works of American authors, and presented 
all his collections. A large bequest of German periodicals 
and books was made by the will of the Rev. Dr. William 
Bentley. One hundred and twenty-eight volumes, illustrative 
of the topography, local history, and antiquities of England 
and Wales, and of genealogy and heraldry, were recently be- 
stowed by the President, the Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop. 

About fifteen thousand separate tracts have been bound in 
1 ,03 5 volumes of pamphlets. They embrace series of sermons, 
orations, anniversary discourses, reports of societies, festival 
addresses, occasional publications on religious and political 
controversies, and all those sheets thrown off from the press, 
so soon perishing unless carefully gathered, but which are of 
singular interest in illustrating the spirit of past times. 

The collection of newspapers may be described as good, 
without fear of exaggeration: there are 1,251 volumes, many 
of them embracing two or three annual files within the same 
covers. Commencing in 1704 with the News Letter, the first 
of the newspapers printed in North America, the series of 
these publications down to the revolution of 1774, is probably 
more full and perfect than any other in the United States; 
since the adoption of the constitution it is extensive and of 
tolerable completeness. The limitations of the uses of the 
funds, have prevented subscriptions for the periodicals of our 
own times, and it has been necessary to depend, for the most 
part, on the generosity of individuals for the increase of the 
stores of materials for the history of the present. By the great 
industry and perseverance of the Librarian, valuable additions 
have been made to this department, which are indicated by 
his report. 

The efforts of the same officer, directed to perfect the col- 
lection of the legislative and judicial records of the several 
states of the union, it is gratifying to learn, have been crowned 
with success. It is understood, although not certainly known 



\ 



Meeting of May 2p, i8jg 375 

by any official information, that the series of public documents 
of Maine, have been made ready for transmission. The re- 
quests of the Society for the aid afforded by communicating 
public papers, have never been denied: but they have fre- 
quently been delayed and postponed. Should the object 
ever be accompKshed, the student and statesman may be 
enabled to find, gathered in one place, the materials for the 
history of legislation and jurisprudence, and comparing the 
laws of the sister republics with each other, may obtain use- 
ful hints for social improvement. 

The Society have many manuscripts; among them, some 
which are rare and curious. It is believed that these treasures 
may be much increased. There is scarcely a fainily of the 
descendants of the early planters coming from the fountains 
of population in the old world to spread cultivation and im- 
provement over the western continent, who have not files and 
boxes of papers, letters, or memorials of the early wars, il- 
lustrative of history and biography. The improved diligence 
of modern writers has formed a just appreciation of the pecu- 
liar value of these fragments, which other societies have care- 
fully gathered. It is believed that if the members could be 
interested to explore the treasures of the garrets, to procure 
copies of old records, and to extract original writings from 
the places of their repose, that a collection might be soon 
formed having extraordinary interest. 

The Cabinet occupies one large room, and has been ar- 
ranged with great neatness. Beside an extensive collection 
of foreign and native minerals, and of shells, many of them 
of singular beauty and high scientific value, but not peculiarly 
appropriate to the objects of the institution, there are old 
specimens of the arts of Peru and Mexico; a vast number of 
implements, utensils, weapons, and ornaments of the northern 
Indians, and some most interesting memorials of the planters 
of New England, and of the patriots of the revolution. The 
coins exceed two thousand in number; some hundreds bear 
the impress of the . emperors of Rome ; there are many stamped 
with the pine tree of the province and the Indian of the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts; and most of those which have 
been issued in the several American States are preserved. 
Almost every variety of the continental currency has its rep- 
resentative in the piles of paper money. 

Among the portraits, are those of John Winthrop, John 
Endicott, Francis Higginson, John Leverett, John Rogers, 



376 American Antiquarian Society 

and Mathers from the ancestor Richard of Dorchester, Thos. 
Prince, Gov. Burnet, and others of the early worthies of 
New England; of Doct. Isaiah Thomas and Hon. Thomas 
L. Winthrop, the presidents, and of C. C. Baldwin, the late 
librarian, among the benefactors of the Society. The en- 
gravings and maps are numerous, and some of them are 
curious specimens of the arts of design. 

The communications proposed by Mr. Haven in the an- 
nexed report, will be useful in directing the attention of those 
to whom they are addressed, to the wants of the Society, 
and the means of supply. They wdll serve to apprise each 
member that he is entitled to exercise the privilege of deposit- 
ing his own works, and any rare book, or curious article 
held by himself or his friends. 

The statements which have been mxade, will be considered 
as justifying the Council in congratulating the Society on the 
continued prosperity of the institution; on the permanency 
and extent of its foundation, and on the prospect of increasing 
usefulness. 

For the Committee of the Council, 

William Lincoln. 



Librarian's Report 

The Librarian respectfully submits to the Council of the 
American Antiquarian Society his first semi-annual report of 
the year 1839. 

It appears from the entries in the Book of Donations, that, 
since the meeting of the Society, in October, four hundred 
and five pamphlets, and fifty-nine volumes of books, have 
been added to its collections. 

This enumeration is exclusive of such public documents as 
are regularly received from Congress or from State Govern- 
ments. 

A number of files of valuable newspapers have been pre- 
sented, and a very considerable quantity in a broken and mis- 
cellaneous condition. 

A small package of Roman Coins, received from Commo- 
dore Jesse D. EUiott, through the hand of Governor Lincoln — 
a few engra\ings • — a large and handsome chart of George's 
shoal — several smaller plans — a bundle of MSS. sermons, 
preached in Salem a century since — and some small articles 
for the Cabinet, complete the list of additions. 



Meeting of May 2p, i8jp » 377 

Among the volumes are several Scandinavian works, and 
old northern chronicles of Icelandic and Danish history, pre- 
sented by Rev. Wilham Barry of Framingham. 

The Librarian was authorized to purchase, of the same 
gentleman, an Icelandic Dictionary, offered at the price paid 
by him in Copenhagen. 

For the moderate sum of live dollars, a comprehensive Lex- 
icon, Icelandic and Latin, containing 871 pages quarto, un- 
bound, an Icelandic Grammar, and a copy of Snorre Stule- 
son's history, in Danish, have been, accordingly, transferred 
to the Society. 

These volumes were collected, some years since, by Mr. 
Barry, in Copenhagen, while engaged in investigations relat- 
ing to the discovery of America by the Northmen, before the 
time of Columbus. Other engagements unfortunately pre- 
vented the completion of his inquiries; but he has a mass of 
manuscript notes and memoranda, which he has been prevailed 
upon to say, shall, when leisure permits, be put into a con- 
nected shape, and communicated to the Society. 

The unarranged Newspapers, that have been gradually ac- 
cumulated in a detached and imperfect state, have been care- 
fully looked over and sifted. By means of the materials al- 
ready in possession, with the aid of parcels obtained in various 
quarters, two hundred and twenty volumes have been made 
so nearly perfect as to justify their being bound. These 
have, therefore, been put into a neat and substantial binding, 
and form a valuable increase to that department of the 
Library. Particular pains have been taken to continue the 
series of those papers that had been previously preserved. 
The Boston Courier is completed to the close of 1838. The 
Boston Gazette, of which there were already twenty-eight 
volumes, extending from 1719 to 1811, has been continued in 
a regular series, to 1828. The Connecticut Courant, which 
before ended at 1791, has been taken up again at 1799 and 
brought down to 1835, with the exception of the years 1806, 
1811-12^ and 1832. Spooner's Vermont Journal has been 
continued in regular series from 1803 to 181 9. There have 
been added twenty years of the National Intelligencer — 
eighteen years of the National Gazette — fourteen of the 
United States Gazette — fourteen of the New York Herald, 
and thirteen, each, of the Boston Recorder, the Christian 
Watchman, and the Christian Register. Other papers, of 

^ The volumes for 181 1 and 181 2 have been since obtained. 



378 American Antiquarian Society 

value as the organs of a party, or a sect, have been obtained 
in files of from three to ten years. 

The additional shelves, prepared last season for newspapers, 
are not quite sufficient for this increase. 

The duty of arranging the Library according to a scientific 
method, required of the Librarian by the by-laws, has been 
the subject of much consideration. Efforts have been made 
to ascertain what systems have been adopted in other libraries, 
and to learn the views of persons having the advantage of 
experience. The result is a conviction, that, only a very 
general arrangement of books upon the shelves mth reference 
to subjects, is practicable or expedient, and that the classifica- 
tion in the Librarian's Catalogue should be simple and com- 
prehensive. It is often less difficult to find a book under a 
general head, than to trace it through minute subdivisions, 
where a difference of opinion may exist as to the propriety 
of its position. An exemplification of the arrangement pro- 
posed by the Librarian for his book of entries, accompanies 
this report. It will be perceived, that, being based upon the 
great objects of the Society, viz. to ascertain the past, pre- 
serve the present, and keep pace with the progressive history 
of America, the titles of the classes have relation to that 
design ; the minuter sub-division being that of dates or periods 
of time. Foreign works, and others not affecting our history, 
must of course be placed under heads appropriate to them- 
selves. This classification consists of three comprehensive 
divisions, viz. ist, Antiquities, embracing all matters ante- 
cedent to actual history; 2d, General History; 3d, Local 
History; — and thirteen sub-divisions of the two last named 
heads, viz. History of Legislation — Judicial History — His- 
tory of Parties, or Politics — Religious History or Rise atui 
Progress of Sects — History of Moral and Benevolent Associa- 
tions, Institutions, and Enterprises — History of Education — 
History of Arts and Sciences — History of Trade and Manu- 
factures — Military History — Diplomatic History — Tabular 
History or Statistics — Geographical History — and Literary 
History, or Literature. All documents and facts relating to 
these, being placed in the order of the periods to which they 
refer. 

In connection with this arrangement it may be proper to 
allude to the means now in operation for supplying the mate- 
rials for the several departments there enumerated. 

In regard to Antiquities, properly so cal\ed, no definite 



Meeting of May 2p, i8jg 379 

measures are at this time employed, in the way of research or 
discovery. With the present resources of the Society, it is 
necessary, perhaps, rather to wait for opportunities than to 
form plans requiring the provision of means for their execution. 

To supply the departments of Legislative and Judicial 
history, the circular alluded to in the Librarian's last report 
as having been prepared for the purpose, has been forwarded 
to the several governments of the United States, in the hope 
that the examples of some of the States may be adopted by 
all, and that copies of all docimaents, pubKshed by legislative 
authority or requisition, may be lodged in the Library of this 
Institution. No official information of the result has yet 
been received. 

The progressive history of parties, reUgious sects, moral 
and benevolent associations and enterprises, education, arts 
and sciences, &c., may, to a considerable extent, be found in 
the newspapers, reports, occasional addresses, and magazines, 
that are collected and preserved for this purpose. Fortu- 
nately, almost every association, or party, has now its periodi- 
cal organ, for explaining and enforcing its plans and principles. 
The most important of these, at least in our own vicinity, 
will probably find their way into the Antiquarian Library 
without great expense to the Society. 

The disposition among associations, authors, and editors, to 
deposite their pubHcations in the Library, is apparently in- 
creasing. The American Colonization Society, the American 
Education Society, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 
the Editor of the Boston Courier, and the Editor of the 
Christian Watchman, continue to transmit their publications 
as they are issued. In other cases voluntary propositions 
have been made to preserve papers with a view of depositing 
them at the end of the year. The Wisconsin Enquirer, a new 
paper, the first in that young territory, and the organ of its 
government, is constantly sent by some unknown friend. 

The value of these store-houses of facts and incidents, is 
diminished by the quantity of extraneous matter by which 
these facts are surrounded and buried. If it were practicable 
to obtain the leading periodicals of our country, religious, 
poHtical, literary and scientific, as they are issued, it would be 
easy for the Librarian to preserve an index rerum of impor- 
tant matters found in them, having a bearing upon our his- 
tory, by means of references placed under those heads to 
which the subjects relate. A valuable collection of references 



380 American Antiquarian Society 

to minor historical materials might thus be gradually accumu- 
lated. 

In compliance with the wish, expressed by the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society of London, to be admitted to an interchange 
of Transactions, the Librarian, as directed by the Council, 
made up a package of books, consisting of the Transactions 
and Catalogue of this Society, Thomas' History of Printing, 
Lincoln's History of Worcester, and the Worcester Magazine, 
and committed it to the kindness of George Bancroft, Esq., 
Collector of the Port of Boston, for a chance of safe and direct 
transmission to that learned Association. 

In concluding this report, the Librarian begs leave to sug- 
gest the expediency of furnishing each member of the Anti- 
quarian Society with a sheet containing the heads into which 
its collections are divided, with the request, that as books or 
documents appropriate to its objects, come to their knowledge, 
the titles, price, and the place where they are to be found, may 
be entered under the head to which the works respectively 
belong. If such memoranda were annually returned to the 
Librarian from, different sections of the country, infonnation, 
difficult to be procured by other means, and very important 
to the design of the Society, would be obtained. This measure 
would impose on members no troublesome or laborious duty, 
while its tendency would be to keep alive a remembrance of 
their connexion with this Institution, and an interest in its 
progress. 

All of which is respectfully submitted, 

Samuel F. Haven, Librarian. 



American Antiquarian Society in acc't with S. Jennison, 

Treasurer (On account of the General Fund) 
Dr. 

Oct., 1838. To expense for T. Keith's acc't for 

portrait frames, &c $73 . 50 

Nov'r " Assessment on insurance policy ..... 6.40 

S. R. Jackson on acc't for coal 12 . 50 

For copy at Sec'ys Office i . 00 

Dec'r " Jubal Harrington's acc't for news- 
papers purchased (6528) 16.32 

Jan., 1839. Paid for insurance 20.00 

Feb. " " Homer &c. for advertising 2 . 26 

" Insurance (Withcrby House) ... 6. 75 

" for binding books 2 . 00 



Meeting of May 2g, i8jg 381 

Mar. 1839 Paid for advertising $3 . 25 

" for postage July 1838 to Mar. 

1839 11. 81 

" for coal 5 . 00 

" for dumb stove, &c. (Miller) ... 16.66 

April " " for Treas'rs compensation 30.00 

May " T. W. Bancroft for 54 vols. Arch- 

eologia Americana 40 • 50 

" Assessments on insurance policy 12.79 

" postage 1 . 13 

$261.87 

To Notes 25 1 7 . 40 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash in Treasurer's hands 42 . 93 

$3222. 20 
Cr. 
By balance of this acc't deducting expense paid to Oct. 1838 . $884 . 90 

By cash rec'd on acc't of Middlebury estate 50 . 00 

By interest account 2287 .30 

$3222. 20 

American Antiquarian Society in acc't with S. Jennison, 
Treasurer (On acc't of Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

Notes 12,386.00 

Cash in Treasurer's hands 59-13 

$12,945.13 
Cr. 

By amo't rec'd May 21st, 1831 $11,396.00 

Int. rec'd exceeding the am't of Librarian's salary Oct. ist . . 1,440 . 34 
Int. rec'd since Oct. ist 108 . 79 

$12,945.13 

American Antiquarian Society in acc't with S. Jennison, 
Dr. Treasurer {on acc't of Fund of $5000) 

To Notes $7250.00 

Cr. 

By Balance Aug't, 1835 $5928.31 

Bal. of cash due to the Treas'r 30.42 

Int. rec'd since Aug't, 1835 1291 .27 

$7250.00 

Balance of General Fund $2,960.33 

Balance of Librarian's Fund 12,945 • i3 

Balance of Fund of $5000 7,219. 58 

$23,125.04 



382 American Antiquarian Society 

Middlebury Estate 800 . 00 

Mortgage in Dixmont 800.00 

$24,725,04 
Amount rec'd from Estate of I. Thomas and other sources 

exclusive of Middlebury and Dixmont property $23,661 .8 

On hand 23,125.04 

Amount of expenditure beyond the income $536 . 80 

S. Jennison, Treas'r. 
May 23d, 1839. 

MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1839 

At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Society 
held at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Wednesday Oct. 23, 
1839. Hon. John Davis, presiding. 

In the absence of the Recording Secretary, William Lincoln 
was elected Recording Secretary pro tempore. 

The Report of the Treasurer was read and referred to Hon. 
Daniel Waldo and Rev. Mr. Hill as a committee to audit the 
same, who were requested to report thereon to the Council. 

The Report of the Council with the accompanying docu- 
ments was read and ordered to be recorded, and the origi- 
nals to be placed on file.^ 

Voted, That the Council be authorized to make such re- 
pairs on the buildings of Antiquarian Hall as may be required 
for the security of the property. 

The Hon. John Quincy Adams of Quincy, Hon. John 
Davis of Boston, Frederic de Waldeck of South America, 
were unanimously elected members of the Society. 

Voted, That Hon. Daniel Waldo, Theophilus Wheeler, and 
Rev. Mr. Hill, be a committee to nominate officers for the 
ensuing year, who reported the following list: 

President, Thomas L. Winthrop, LL.D. 

Vice-Presidents, Hon. John Davis, LL.D. 
Hon. Joseph Story, LL.D. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. John Park, M.D. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D. Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 

Hon. J.-^mes C. Merrill. John Green, M.D. 

* The Council's report is missing from the files; the reports of the Com- 
mittee to examine the library, of the Librarian and of the Treasurer are printed, 
following the Records of this meeting, from the Society's files, as will be the case 
with all future reports to the end of this volume unless otherwise noted. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jq 383 

Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. Joseph Willard, Esq. 

Sam'l M. BuRNsn)E, Esq. Emory Washburn, Esq. 

Secretaries 

His Excellency Edward Everett, LL.D., Foreign Correspondence. 
William Lincoln, Esq., Domestic Correspondence. 
Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer 
^ Sam'l Jennison, Esq. 

Committee of Publication 

John Park, M.D. 
Wm. Lincoln, Esq. 
Alfred D. Foster, Esq. 

Librarian 
Samuel F. Haven, Esq. 

The gentlemen above-named w^ere then unanimously elected 
to the offices for which they were respectively nominated. 

Voted, That the names of the gentlemen elected members 
be printed and added to the list annexed to the semi-annual 
report, and the pamphlets distributed to the members. 

The meeting was then dissolved. 

William Lincoln, Sec'y. pro. tern. 



Report of the Committee on the Library 

The committee appointed by the Council of the American 
Antiquarian Society, at their last meeting, to examine the 
state of the Library of the Listitution have attended to that 
duty, and ask leave to report as follows: 

The committee found the several halls, in which the books 
are deposited, neat and free from dust; and the books ar- 
ranged in perfect order on the shelves, which, considering 
the indulgence daily permitted to the wants or curiosity of 
visitors, evinces an habitual attention to regularity on the 
part of the Librarian. 

There are some circumstances of moment, however, not 
depending on the care or superintendence of the Librarian, yet 
endangering the preservation and security of many of the 
books, which seem to require seasonable action on the part 
of the Council. The external covering of the two wings is so 
permeable by rain water, that during the recent storm. 



384 American Antiquarian Society 

though of short continuance, the plaster ceilmg was exten- 
sively soaked, and from many portions in the newspaper apart- 
ment, and likewise in the south wing, the water fell upon the 
floor, which, even if the books are not immediately touched, 
must produce a general dampness injurious to their texture. 

The other circumstance, seeming to require the attention of 
the Council, is the state of above two hundred folios of news- 
papers, recently bound, for which there is no shelf accommoda- 
tion in the hall appropriated to that description of literature. 
A portion of them lie piled up, one upon another, horizontally, 
on a large table, and the rest, in the same manner upon the 
floor. This position renders it a process of labor to find or 
make use of almost any volume, and besides, it is obvious, that 
lying thus accimiulated and flat, the paper will be much more 
liable to damp and perish, than if placed vertically on shelves. 
The space in the centre of this apartment, between the east 
and west windows, might be occupied, at least two-thirds the 
length of the room, by a double range of shelves, facing the 
windows. These w'ould not materially impede the light nor 
would they interfere with a convenient access to the present 
wall-shelves; and they would afford the accommodation 
wanted and more than is at this time required. 

The ample and satisfactory report of the Librarian, pre- 
vious to the last semi-annual meeting of the Society, appears 
to your committee to have been so complete in its details, as 
to leave no occasion for remark, further than is contained in 
the above brief intimations — which are respectfully submitted. 
J. Park, Chairman oj the Committee. 



Librarian's Report 

The Librarian respectfully presents to the Council of the 
American Antiquarian Society his second semi-annual report 
of the year 1839: 

The additions to the Society's Library since the statement 
rendered in May last, consist of five hundred and forty- three 
pamphlets and forty-four volumes of books. A brazen 
sacramental vessel, of unknown antiquity, and an ancient 
silver coin have been placed in the Cabinet, and a portrait of 
the late Judge Chandler has been added to the collection of 
paintings.^ 

' Undoubtedly an original, but by an unknown artist. 



Meeting of October 2j, i8jg 385 

The pamphlets, are, of course, somewhat miscellaneous. 
Most of them however, have an intrinsic value; and it is a 
part of our system to consider nothing of the kind as unim- 
portant. Among the accumulations that are found in the 
garrets of almost every household, the antiquarian not seldom 
meets with unexpected treasures. On being first brought 
into daylight, they may indeed appear somewhat like Fal- 
staff's recruits, but when properly marshalled into regular 
files of orations, reviews, reports, magazines, election sermons, 
ordination sermons, etc., etc., each in its appropriate depart- 
ment, they not merely add to the numbers, but increase the 
effective force of our library. Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., 
has transferred one of such deposits to the rooms of the 
Society. 

There is a reason for dwelling upon the value of these col- 
lections, as it is probable that they are not, in all cases, suf- 
ficiently estimated even by members of the Society. It is 
only by noticing how often a " hiatus valde deflendus" has 
been filled by their means, that their importance becomes most 
apparent. 

Am.ong the books it may be well to particularize an elegant 
copy of Delafield's Inquiry into the Antiquities of America, 
from Hon. Tho's L. Winthrop, President of the Society; 
two copies of Rev. J. B. Felt's work upon the Currency of 
Massachusetts, one from the same source, and the other 
presented by the author ; Fresco tt's beautiful History of the 
Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, deposited by that gentleman 
himself; a parchment bound folio, containing the entire 
works of Hippocrates, printed in 1595, from Ferdinando Ru- 
dolph Hassler, Esq.; and eleven ancient volumes of ancient 
works, scientific, philosophical and theological, as remote in 
date as venerable in appearance, presented by Samuel Wells, 
Esq., of Northampton. 

The Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon 
has forwarded two large volumes of the Memoirs of that in- 
stitution, and a literary discourse printed by himself. George 
Finlay, Esq., a member of this Society resident in Greece, 
has communicated a pubHcation of his own, on the Topog- 
raphy of Oropia and Diacria, and Col. GaHndo has sent 
from Central America a written Memoir on the Ruins of 
Montagua. It should not be omitted to mention a set of 
Bouchette's elegant and expensive Topographical Maps of the 
Province of Lower Canada, bestowed by Hon. Daniel Waldo. 



386 American Antiquarian Society 

This enumeration is made, not as giving new information 
to the Council, but for the sake of bringing together the 
principal particulars of progress proper to be shown by the 
accounts of the Librarian. 

The collection of unbound pamphlets has been looked 
over, and those ascertained not to be duplicates assorted for 
binding. As some convenient sets of reports, catalogues, 
occasional addresses, sermons, etc., may be made up from the 
duplicates, the propriety of binding these together is suggested. 

In the absence of a more formal communication on the sub- 
ject, made directly to the Council, (none such having come to 
the knowledge of the Librarian) a proposition of one of its 
members should be stated. In the hbrary of WilHam Lincoln, 
Esq., now occupying one of the rooms of Antiquarian Hall, is 
a very considerable collection of periodical literature, which, 
he has intimated, may be made the property of the Society, 
by the simple ceremony of binding and lettering. The books, 
pamphlets and papers of that gentleman have so strong an 
afl&nity for the shelves of the Society's library, and the pro- 
cess of transfer is so silently and constantly continued, that 
it is not always easy to notice the moment of transmission. 
Advantage is therefore taken of the present occasion to make 
known the fact of these valuable accessions, and to request 
instructions as to the disposition to be made of them. 

A few additional files of newspapers have been arranged. 
The large number lately put into binding now await the pro- 
vision of a suitable place for their accommodation. 

Some advance has been made in the important work of 
noting upon the Catalogue the location of the volumes on 
their shelves. This is of necessity a gradual labor, as the 
title page of nearly every book has to be examined, and 
changes of position frequently determined upon. 

Some boxes of books and antiquities promised to the 
Society are daily expected, but not having yet been received 
a notice of them must be deferred to a future occasion. 

Samuel F. Haven, Lib'n. 
Oct'r i8th, 1839. 



Meeting of October 2j, iSsg 387 

Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas., on 
accH of General Fund. 
Dr. 

To notes 

Oxford Bank Stock 

To expense paid since May, 1839: 

J. Burke's acc't for labor 

E. H. Marshall for binding newspapers 

C. Harris' acc't, books, &c 

For removing artillery 

Advertising meeting 

I. Bartlett's bill for painting 

For advertising meetings in Boston 2 yrs 

For W. T. Merrifield, carpenters acc't 

$3194-37 

Cr. 
By balance of this account deducting expenses paid to May, 

1839 $673.03 

By cash balance due the Treas 189 . 75 

By interest received 2331 . 59 

$3194-37 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. on 
acc't of Librarian's Fund 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500.00 

Citizens Bank Stock 600.00 

Citizens Bank Stock 500.00 

To notes 11,386.00 

To cash in Treas'rs hands 210. 21 



400 


00 


8 


12 


165 


37 


13 


29 


I 


00 




75 


44 


12 


4 


88 


39 


44 



$13,196.21 
Cr. 

By am't rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

By interest exceeding the Librarian's salary 1,464.87 

Disc't on Bank Stock purchased 170.00 

By int. rec'd since Oct. i 165 .34 

$13,196.21 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. on 
acc't of Fund of $5,000. 
Dr. 

To notes $7350.00 

Cash in Treas'rs hands , 45-29 

$7395-29 



388 American Antiquarian Society 

Cr. 

By balance, Aug. 1835 $5928 .31 

Interest received 1466 . 98 

$7,395-29 

Balance of General Fund $2,727 . 65 

Balance of Librarian's Fund 13,196. 21 

Fund of $5000 7,395 • 29 

$23,319.15 
Middlebury and Dixmont property estimated 1600.00 

$24,919.15 

Amount rec'd from I. Thomas, Esq., and from other sources, 

exclusive of Middlebury, and Dixmont property $23,661 .84 

On hand 23,319.15 

Expenditure beyond the income $342 . 69 

October 17, 1839. Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 

The subscriber being the only one of the committee who 
could attend on that business has this day examined the 
above accounts and found them correctly cast and well 
vouched. He also examined the obligation forming the funds 
of the respective accounts as stated by the treasurer. 

Daniel Waldo, Comm'ee. 
February 24, 1840, 



MEETING OF MAY 27, 1840 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Tremont House in Boston on Wednesday May 27, 1840. 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President, in the Chair. 

The Recording Secretary read the records of the proceed- 
ings of the last meeting; also the Report of the Council to the 
Society, the semi-annual Report of the Treasurer, the Report 
of the Committee appointed to examine the Library, and the 
Report of the Librarian. 

Which several reports were directed to be placed on hie. 

Voted, That the Foreign Corresponding Secretary be re- 
quested to transmit the Transactions of the American Anti- 
quarian Society to the following societies in Europe: 



Meeting of May 27, 1840 389 

The General Statistical Society of France at Paris. 
The Geographical Society of Paris. 
The Historical Society of Paris. 

and that the Secretary express to those societies the wish 
of the Antiquarian Society to open a correspondence with 
them, and an interchange of publications. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of an additional Foreign 
Corresponding Secretary in anticipation of the contemplated 
absence of the Hon. Edward Everett in Europe.^ 

Voted, That the Recording Secretary be a committee to 
collect and count the votes for an additional Foreign Corres- 
ponding Secretary — who reported the unanimous choice of 
the Hon. John Pickering. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society respect- 
fully submit their semi-annual Report. 

Altho' the past may to some minds seem to be the sphere 
which should bound an antiquary's care and attention, the 
Council are happy to assure the Society that the present as 
well as the future prosperity of this institution has not been 
disregarded, nor forgotten since their last Report was sub- 
mitted. And while the public mind has been agitated by the 
exciting topics and incidents of the day, the officers of the 
Society have been diligently pursuing the less assuming, but 
far pleasanter duty of gathering for others' use, those stores 
of knowledge which will be sought and appreciated when the 
causes of the present agitation shall have become a part of 
the history of a former age. 

The only questions of finance that have attracted the at- 
tention of the Council have been, how they should most 
faithfully and beneficially manage the liberal donations of the 
founder of the Society and its other benefactors, so as best to 
subserve the benevolent designs of its generous patrons, and 
the only currency which they have sought to improve, has 
been the proper circulation of the invaluable treasure of 
knowledge which have been deposited under their custody 

* Mr. Everett had been appointed minister to England. 



39° American Antiquarian Society 

and care. And the Council are happy in being able to renew 
their expression of unqualified approbation of the fidelity and 
success, with which those who have had the property and funds 
of the Society in charge, have performed their several trusts. 

The Reports of the Treasurer and Librarian accompany 
this Report and are to be taken as a part of it. From these 
the condition of these important departments of what is 
committed to the general care of the Council will fully appear 
and furnish renewed evidence of the claims of these officers 
upon the favor and confidence of the Society. 

Expenditures have been incurred, a part only of which 
appear in the Treasurer's Report, for the repairs of the Anti- 
quarian Hall and for planting shade and ornamental trees 
near the same, which will form the subject of a more detailed 
report on a future occasion. For the present, it will be suf- 
ficient to state that the repairs to the Hall consisted principally 
in shingling and other work upon the roof, to prevent the ad- 
mission of the rain, from which considerable inconvenience had 
been experienced, and the Library subjected to an exposure to 
great damage. The extreme dampness of the cellar under 
the Hall has also rendered it necessary that some expenditures 
should be incurred in remedying that difficulty and rendering 
the building more healthy and secure. The planting of trees 
was deemed important, not only as a reasonable exhibition 
of good taste, but as tending to preserve the Society's build- 
ing from destruction in case of a fire occurring in any of the 
buildings standing upon the adjacent lots. The Hall itself, 
sheltered and surrounded as it now is with evergreens and 
other forest trees, is in excellent keeping with the purposes for 
which it was designed, where study and contemplation may 
not be disturbed by the noise and bustle of a populous village. 

The whole amount of expenses actually paid out by the 
Treasurer in the current half year is three hundred and sixty- 
six dollars and sixteen cents, making the aggregate amount 
of expenditures up to the present time to exceed the amount of 
the income from the funds of the Society by the sum of four 
hundred and ninety-two dollars and seventeen cents, and leav- 
ing a balance in the Treasurer's hands at this time of twenty- 
three thousand, one hundred and sixty-nine dollars and sixty- 
seven cents ($23,169.67), all of which is safely invested in a 
productive form. This sum, however, is to be understood 
as not embracing the lands belonging to the Society in Maine 
or Middlebury, Vermont. 



Meeting of May 27, 1840 391 

Inadequate as these funds may seem and actually are, to 
supply the demands upon a Society whose objects are as im- 
portant and whose field of operations is as wide as those of the 
American Antiquarian Society, yet when these resources are 
compared with those of kindred associations in our country, 
the members of this Society have just cause for congratulation 
and new incentives to exert themselves to carry out the de- 
signs of those, to whose munificence the Society hitherto owes 
its existence and success. 

The Society are moreover encouraged in their efforts by 
the increasing interest which is manifested in the objects of 
this and similar associations. As a demand for a knowledge 
of the history and statistics, of the science and literature of 
the country shall increase, the stores of these which are here 
garnered up must become of greater interest and value. 
Already a growing interest is manifesting itself in the depart- 
ment of historical research. Our country has been long 
enough settled to furnish valuable materials, even if regarded 
as mere antiquarian lore. But there is a broader and deeper 
interest than this springing up abroad, as well as in our own 
land, to learn the origin, progress and history of those insti- 
tutions upon which our national prosperity is based, and 
from which our national character so far as it is formed, de- 
rives so much of its tone and spirit. 

It is in such collections as that now growing under the care 
of this Society, that the elements are to be found from which 
this knowledge is to be derived. Thoughts, opinions and 
truths which, as they were developed, stamped an abiding 
impress upon the passing age, are here found buried, perhaps 
beneath the ponderous might of the learning and labor of 
their authors or concealed in the uninviting garb of an uncouth 
style, and need but the refining power of an improved taste, 
to separate the rich ore from the unsightly dross and give 
it currency and value. 

In the department of newspapers, the best general chronicles 
of the day, the Library of the Society is richly, but by no 
means completely supplied, and it is gratifying to learn that 
it is becoming every year more valuable by generous contri- 
butions from the managers of the pubHc press in this and other 
States. 

In the department of pamphlets and periodical works, 
the Library possesses an exceedingly valuable supply of 
those materials which will be sought by the future historian 



392 American Antiquarian Society 

and antiquary, when studying the character of successive 
periods, in the literary taste, the political discussions, the re- 
ligious creeds and the scientific discoveries that have distin- 
guished them, and the Librarian's Report shows an addition 
since his last communication to the Council, of eight hundred 
and eight pamphlets to the already extensive collection be- 
longing to the Society. 

The Society may confidently indulge the hope that the de- 
partment of State and Public Documents, so important in 
prosecuting historical research, and which at present is un- 
fortunately exceedingly defective, may ere long be suppHed 
by the munificence of the several State Legislatures. Maine 
has liberally supplied the library with her public documents, 
and nothing is wanting but a moment's reflection upon the 
part of others, to whom the appeal of the Society has been 
made, to induce a prompt and cheerful compliance with their 
request. 

In conclusion, altho' the collection of books, newspapers, 
and pamphlets belonging to the Society is in many respects 
still incomplete, the Society have cause for congratulation 
that so much has been, and so much is being done to make 
their Library what it was designed by its founder to be — a 
public and lasting benefit to our country. 

It has been the good fortune of the Council to be permitted 
to watch over the interests of this Society for another half 
year. They have done whatever has been within their power 
to preserve and transmit the treasure entrusted to them, to 
those who may come after them, and they will perhaps be 
pardoned for indulging the hope, that when the present 
shall have put on the dusty habiliment of the past, and the 
agitations and excitements of the day shall be viewed through 
the softening, mellowing medium of the antiquary's glass, it 
will be found that the efforts of this Society to advance the 
cause for which it was instituted, have reached beyond the 
ephemeral objects of personal or party interest, and that the 
unobtrusive zeal and industry of its officers, and the bene- 
factions of its patrons will receive that meed of praise which 
is due to high motive and generous action. 

By order of the Council.^ 
Antiquarian Hall, 
Worcester, May 27, 1840. 

^ The report was prepared by Messrs. Emory Washburn and William Lin- 
coln, and is in the handwriting of the former. 



Meeting of May 2y, 1840 393 

At a meeting of the Council held at Antiquarian Hall, 
May 25, 1840. 

Voted, To accept the foregoing report and to adopt the same 
as the Report of the Council to be made to the Society at 
their meeting to be held on the 27 th inst. 

Attest, Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Committee on the Library 

The Committee, appointed by the Council of the American 
Antiquarian Society to examine the Library, and report upon 
its condition, have attended to the service assigned them, and 
now report: 

That on Saturday last, they examined all the shelves and 
places of deposit of books and pamphlets, belonging to the 
Society. They did not find it practicable, within the time 
they could command for this purpose, to inspect every book 
and compare it with the printed Catalogue; they think it 
important, that this labor should be performed, altho' several 
days would be necessary to complete it. But for this purpose, 
a previous arrangement of the books, newspapers and pam- 
phlets, according to some fixed and convenient system is 
necessary, and the subject ought to continue to engage the 
attention of the Council. Your Comm'ee have no doubt, 
from the general inspection they have made, that the Library 
contains all the books, newspapers and pamphlets, which 
belong to the Society, that they are in good condition, and 
well preserved under the care of the faithful and devoted 
officer, to whom they are entrusted. 

Respectfully submitted, 

S. M. Burnside. 
May, 25, 1840. 

Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas., on 
acc't of Residuary Fund. 
Dr. 

To expense acc't $366 . 16 

To notes 2417 .40 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400.00 



;i83.56 



394 American Antiquarian Society 

Cr. 

By Balance Oct., 1839 $3Q6.o6 

Cash on acc't 368 . 41 

Interest received . . '. 2419 . 09 

$3183.56 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't'ivith S. Jennison, Treas., on 
acc't of Legacy of $12,000. 

Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock , $500.00 

Citizens Bank Stock 1100.00 

Notes 11,386.00 

Cash acc't 150.65 

$13,136.65 

Cr. 

By amount rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

By interest rec'd exceeding the salary of the Librarian 1713.65 

By interest rec'd exceeding the salary of the Librarian 27 . 00 

$13,136.65 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. on 
acc't of Fund of Antiq. Research, b'c, of $j,ooo.oo. 

Dr. 

To notes $6500.00 

Cashacc't | 3^^.00 

Worcester Bank Stock 700 . 00 

■03 



Cr. 

By balance of Aug't 3, 1835 '. $5928.31 

Interest rec'd 1655 72 

$7584.03 

The property of the Society consists of 

Balance of the first acc't $2448 . 99 

Balance of Librarian's fund i3)i36 65 

Balance of Fund of $5000 7584 03 

$23,169.67 

Amount received of I. Thomas, and from other sources $23,661 . 84 

On hand 23,169.67 

Excess of expenditure over the income $492 . 17 



Meeting of May 27, 1840 395 

Expenses paid since Oct., 1839. 

Dec. For printing and binding S49 . 50 

For labor in setting trees, &c 7-34 

Jan. Mr. Haven's acc't for sundry pay'ts 17 ■ 23 

Feb. For coal 1 7 • 96 

For insurance 20 . 00 

For advertising i • 13 

Apr. Am't of Dorr & Rowland's bill for binding books 250.00 

May For coal 3 • 00 

$366.16 
Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 
May 21, 1840. 

Am. Ant. Society To T. W. &' J. Butterfield, Dr} 

1839 

Nov. 27. For printing 600 copies report of Council and 

Librarian $24 . 00 

For printing 800 copies catalogue of officers and 

members 21 . 50 

For printing 350 copies Reports, 4 pp 425 

$49-75 



Librarian's Report 

To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian presents his accustomed summary of the 
more important facts and occurrences, affecting the interests 
committed to his charge, that have taken place in the last 
interval between the meetings of the Society. 

During this period there has been an increased use of the 
Library for the purposes to which it is especially dedicated. 
The number of persons seeking historical information, either 
by inquiries or direct examination of the books and papers, 
has been greater than usual. Gentlemen preparing occasional 
addresses, or composing articles for periodical publications, 
and some engaged in more extensive works of an historical 
character, have availed themselves of the Society's collections, 
and had every faciUty afforded them in the power of the Li- 
brarian to render. 

In one or two particular instances the Council consented 
to depart from the standing rule, against the removal of books 
from the rooms of the Library. With this sanction a pam- 
phlet was suffered to be taken to New Jersey, at the solicita- 

^ This memorandum of charges is filed with the Treasurer's Report. 



396 American Antiquarian Society 

tion of Rev. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, who is writing a history 
of the Schism of the Presbyterian Church, about the year 1741. 
A volume was also transmitted to the Secretary of State 
of the United States, to aid in the compilation of a memoir 
on the Northwest Coast of America, now under preparation 
in his department. The value of these books, as rarities, 
is attested by the statement that efforts to find them else- 
where had proved unsuccessful. Due care was taken to se- 
cure their safe keeping and sure return. The pamphlet has 
already been received, and the volume, it is expected, will 
be sent back by the hand of Hon. John Davis, at the close 
of Congress.^ 

The Transactions and Catalogue of the Society, have, on 
request, been forwarded to several associations desiring to 
open or continue an interchange of correspondence and of 
productions. These are the Kentucky Historical Society, 
the Georgia Historical Society, and the Royal Academy of 
Sciences of Lisbon. The latter institution was already in 
possession of the 2nd volume of the Transactions, and that 
only, as stated in their late communication accompanying the 
two last volumes of their own publications. The other as- 
sociations have as yet no productions of their own, but the 
Kentucky Society has been at some pains to send to us such 
books and pamphlets as they can spare. 

The application, made, last winter, to the Legislatures of 
the several states, for copies of all their public documents, 
has not yet met with so general attention, as was hoped might 
be the case. From the State' of Maine, however, has arrived 
an entire set of her Laws, Legislative Journals and Judicial 
Reports. J. A. Noonan, Esq., a resident of Wisconsin Terri- 
tory, engages to obtain and present the documents of that 
government, in case no other provision should be made; 
and private assurances have been received from some other 
quarters, that the desired favors will ultimately be obtained. 

1 An entry in the Council Records, although not referred to in the Report, 
is worth}' of being preserved in this place. At its meeting of April i, 1840, the 
Council voted "That the Librarian be authorized to deliver to the Secretary 
of the Commonwealth such manuscripts and papers relating to the war of the 
revolution as are now in possession of the Society, upon the conditions, that the 
Secretary will cause the same to be arranged in good order, bound into volumes, 
safely kept while the same shall remain in his custody, and return the same, 
whenever thereto requested, to the Library, free of expense to the Society." 
Mr. Haven appends a note, under date of May 12th, "Sent by stage to the 
Secretary of State a box of manuscripts relating to the military service of the 
Revolution, in compliance with a vote of the Council of the Antiquarian Society 
on April ist." 



Meeting of May 2j, 1840 397 

Farther than this no definite results have followed the effort 
to make that important department of the Library more 
complete. 

The additions to the Library since the Report of last 
October consist of sixty-four bound volumes and eight hundred 
and eight pamphlets and unbound works. A collection of 
religious periodicals and reports and other pamphlets, was 
bestowed by Hon. Daniel Waldo. The Society is indebted 
to Major James D. Graham, of the U. S. Corps of Topo- 
graphical Engineers, for a copy of the large and elegant 
Military and Hydrographical Chart of the Coasts of Cape 
Cod prepared under his direction, with a foUo copy of his 
report on the same and its accompanying tables. 

The newspapers and periodicals, named in a former report 
as sent regularly and gratuitously, continue to be received. 
To these are added the Boston Weekly Magazine (a literary 
paper) from one of its editors, Mr. Flagg, and the Churchman, 
and the Spirit of Missions, both published in New York, 
forwarded, with other occasional favors, b}^ James Swords, 
Esq., of that City. The Hon. Edward Everett has deposited 
some thousands of unbound and unarranged newspapers, from 
different parts of the Union, to aid in the formation of new 
files, or to supply deficiencies in old ones. 

One of the editors of the American Almanac, Mr. Joseph 
E. Worcester, has made the very acceptable offer to com- 
plete and continue for the Society the series of that valuable 
annual. 

Several volumes originally belonging to the Library of 
Thomas Prince are among the late additions. A portion of 
that Library, by means of an auction sale of the books of the 
late Moses Gill of Princeton, it is known was distributed in 
that section of the County of Worcester. Enquiries have 
been made of the people in that neighborhood, and ancient 
books are remembered to have been seen in the possession of 
various families, supposed to have come from the same source. 
These the Socety may probably be able to obtain, and they 
will perhaps prove of value and interest. 

A request was made by the librarian to John Jacob Astor, 
Esq., that he would deposit with this institution, his collection 
of papers relating to the settlement of Astoria, and the es- 
tablishment of the American Fur Trade. That gentleman, 
has with great courtesy promised, if his health permits, to 
select and arrange his papers for this purpose. They must. 



398 American Antiquarian Society 

on many accounts, be curious and interesting, and may here- 
after become of national importance. 

The printing press of Franklin, used by him in his early 
labors as a printer, has been presented by Mr. E. A. Green- 
wood, proprietor of the museum in which it has been pre- 
served.^ A Malay crease, from the coast of Sumatra, and a 
rude tomahawk, constructed of wood and bone, have been 
added to the Cabinet. 

The record of donations furnishes a list of persons who 
have contributed to the collections of the Society. They 
cannot all even be alluded to in a general report. The friends 
of the institution do not diminish, while it is evident that there 
is a growing attention to historical and antiquarian research 
throughout the country. 

The process of putting the accumulated newspapers and 
pamphlets into binding, has been delayed for the want of a 
binder with whom a satisfactory contract could be made. 
This difficulty having been lately obviated, the assorted 
materials are now furnished as fast as the workmen are ready 
to receive them. The increase to the shelves from this source 
will be considerable, and the newspaper apartment will re- 
quire some new arrangements, if it is deemed important to 
have all the papers kept together. With this exception the 
accommodations of the library are in good condition, and the 
inconveniences from rain and dampness being removed, the 
collections may be kept in good order and preservation. It is 
hoped they may also be soon so systematized and provided 
with suitable references, as to render their examination and 
use easy and convenient. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven, Librarian. 
May 25th, 1840. 

^ A careful search through the archives of the Society has revealed no other 
reference to this press. The only press now in the Society's possession was 
one that belonged to Isaiah Thomas and was brought by him to Worcester in 
1776. The present officers of the Society know nothing of a Franklin press. 
Mr. Greenwood kept the New England Museum in Boston from 1825 to 1840. 
The only reference to the Thomas press in the Council records is in a vote 
passed Dec. 31, 1834, "that a committee be chosen to report what disposition 
shall be made of the Printing Press presented by Mr. Thomas." In the Dona- 
tion Book, under date of Oct. 20, 1824, is recorded the gift from Isaiah Thomas 
of a " printer's composing stick, used by the donor when only six years of age, in 
I755-" 



Meeting of October 2j, 1840 399 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1840 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Friday, October 23, 1840. 

Hon. John Davis in the Chair. 

The semi-annual Report of the Council was read and ac- 
cepted and ordered to be placed on file. 

Voted, That the Treasurer's Report be committed to a 
committee for examination, who are directed to examine the 
state of the funds of the Society and to report to the Council 
whether any and what changes and improvements, if any, 
ought to be made therein. Chose Samuel M. Burnside and 
Daniel Waldo, Esq's. 

Voted, That the Report of the Committee on the Library 
be put on file. 

Voted, To proceed to ballot for the admission of members. 
Whereupon voted for and admitted 

Benjamin F. Thomas. 

Stephen Salisbury. 

John W. Lincoln, Esqs., all of Worcester. 

James Swords, Esq., New York. 

Samuel Wells, Esq., Northampton. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the ensuing 
year. 

Voted, To appoint a committee to nominate a list of officers. 
Chose Emory Washburn and Frederick W. Paine, Esq., 
who reported: 

President 

Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop. 

Vice-Presidents 

Hon. John Davis. 
Hon, Joseph Story. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln. Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 

Hon. James C. Mermll. John Park, M.D. 

Frederick W. Paine, Esq. Joseph Willard, Esq. 

John Green, M.D. Emory Washburn, Esq. 

Secretaries 

Hon. Edward Everett and Hon. John Pickering, Foreign Corres- 
ponding. 
William Lincoln, Esq., Domestic Corresponding, 
Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



400 American Antiquarian Society 

Treasurer 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

Committee of Publication 
John Park, M.D. 
William Lincoln, Esq. 
Alfred D. Foster, Esq. 

Voted to dissolve the meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society respect- 
fully make this their semi-annual Report: 

The flourishing condition of the institution as presented by 
their last semi-annual Report, they are happy to believe, still 
continues. The Librarian continues to devote his attention 
and services to the duties of his office and the Treasurer is 
still the faithful and accurate officer which he has hitherto 
shown himself to be. The Reports of these two officers will 
from a part of this Report and will exhibit the condition of 
the Library and finances of the Society so far as any change 
has taken place in either of these departments during the last 
half year. 

The repairs recently made upon the building of the Society 
have rendered their library safe from the injuries to which 
it was, till then, exposed from the rains and moisture penetrat- 
ing the roof and walls of the Antiquarian Hall in which it is 
deposited. 

While the whole community seems to be agitated by the 
excitements of the day, it is pleasant to witness the calm 
yet steady progress which is made by this Society, in their 
eff'orts to collect and preserve those materials, from which 
the present may learn the character and incidents of the past, 
and the future may be able to look back thro' a true 
medium, upon the events, the opinions, the hopes, and the 
fears of the present which so deeply engross the public mind. 

It is by this unerring standard that men and their measures 
must be tried, and he may well be said to live for his race 
rather than himself, who shall preserve for future use the 
perishing memorials of the past or the passing age.^ 

By order of the Council. 
Antiquarian Hall, Oct. 23rd, 1840. 

^ The report was prepared by Messrs. Emory Washburn and William Lincoln 
and is in the former's handwriting. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1840 401 

At a meeting of the Council of the American Antiquarian 
Society holden on the 2 2d day of October, 1840, it was voted 
to adopt the foregoing as the Report of the Council to the 
Society to be made at the next meeting of the Society to be 
held at Antiquarian Hall on the 23rd inst. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'gSec'y. 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treasurer 
{on acc't of the General Fund) 

Dr. 
To balance, being excess of expenses over the amount of 

principal ■ $316.70 

To notes 2417 .40 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400.00 

$3134- 10 
Cr. 
By cash expended beyond the rec'ts of cash on this account . . $671 . 49 
By interest rec'd 2462 . 61 

13134- 10 

The American Antiquarian Soc. in acc't with the Treasurer 
(on acc't of Fund of $12,000) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500.00 

To Citizens Bank Stock 1,100.00 

To notes 1 1,086 . 00 

To cash acc't, balance S7i ■ 60 

$13,257.60 

Cr. 

By amount rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

By (profits) interest rec'd beyond the amount paid the 

Librarian to Oct. i 1,722 .96 

By interest rec'd since Oct. i 117 -39 

By interest rec'd since Oct. i 21.25 

$13,257.60 

The American Antiquarian Society in acc't with the Treasurer 
(on acc't of Fund of $5,000) 
Dr. 

To notes $6900.00 

To Worcester Bank Stock 7°° • 00 

To cash acc't, balance 261 . 30 

1.30 



402 American Antiquarian Society 

Cr. 

By balance, Aug't, 1835 $5928 .31 

By interest received 1932 . 99 



)i.30 

The amount of property received from I. Thomas, Esq. and 
from other sources, exclusive of Dixmont debts and 

Middlebury Estate, is $23,73 1 ■ 84 

The balance of the General or Residuary Fund 

unexpended is $2,145 • Qi 

Of the Librarian's Fund 13,257 . 50 

Of the Fund of $5000 7,861 . 30 $23,264 . 81 

Excess of expenditure over the income $467 . 03 

A legacy of the late Wm, McFarland, Esq., of five hundred 
dollars, the annual interest on which is "to be laid out in 
enlarging the Library," will be paid to the Treasurer, as he is 
informed by the executor, the ensuing month. 

A portion of the Fund of $5,000 consists of a bond and mort- 
gage for seven hundred dollars, now in the hands of R. Newton, 
Esq., for collection, on which no interest has been received 
since April 1837. 

In addition to the amount of the several funds above men- 
tioned of $23,264 . 81 

The Dixmont property may be estimated at 850.00 

and the Middlebury estate at 700 . 00 

making $24,814.81 

The Society's agent at Middlebury represented to the 
Treasurer, in May last, that the estate in that place might 
probably be sold for $700 "at any time," He was requested 
to dispose of the same, but no communication has been rec'd 
from him in relation thereto. 

The expenditures since the Treasurer's last Report have been: 

For his compensation, i year $30 . 00 

J. Hammond's account for labor in setting out trees 5 . 00 

H. Goulding & Co., for shingles 148.93 

Mr. Haven's acc't for miscellaneous expenses 6.31 

H. N. Tower's acc't, balance after deduction of shingles and 

zinc 79.13 

Mr. Davis's acc't for laying wall 26 . 75 

Hutchinson & Crosby's acc't for binding 119 -35 

For advertising meeting i . 13 

$416.60 
Respectfully submitted, 
Oct. 17, 1840. By S. Jennison, Treas. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1840 403 

Report of the Committee on the Library 

The Committee appointed by the Council of the A. A. 
Society to examine and report the condition of the Library 
have attended to that duty, and ask leave to refer to the re- 
port made by them on the same subject in May last, as con- 
taining all the remarks, which they now think proper to make 
in regard to this portion of the property of the institution. 

The books, pamphlets, and newspapers are in the same 
good order and state of preservation as heretofore. A care- 
ful examination of each work, and comparison of each book 
with the Catalogue ought to be made, with as little delay as 
possible, and such systematic arrangement of position adopted 
as shall render minute inspections hereafter practicable and 
easy. 

Much time and labor are necessary for this purpose, but 
the benefit to be secured by them is more than an equivalent 

Respectfully submitted, 

S. M. Burnside, per order. 
Worcester, Octo'r 226., 1840. 



Librarian's Report 

To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian presents his Report for the period since the 
meeting of the Society in May last. 

Fifty-two bound volumes, and two hundred and seventy- 
three pamphlets and books in the pamphlet form, have been 
presented to the Library. 

It is not often that the Librarian looks over the list of 
additions without finding some tokens of remembrance from 
our venerable president. On the present occasion there ap- 
pear, besides two modern octavo volumes of historical in- 
terest, the three large quartos of Salmon's Universal History 
printed in 1739, a valuable work, and a rare and perfect 
edition. This last was purchased expressly for the Society, 
as being a book not often to be met with, and proper to be in 
its possession. 

The Society is indebted to the Rev. Lewis Pennell of North- 
bridge for eight Chinese volumes, consisting of translations 
into that language of moral and rehgious tracts by Gutzlaff 
and Medhurst, the celebrated missionaries in the East. 



404 American Antiquarian Society 

A few more volumes from the Library of Thomas Prince 
have been found and deposited by Rev. Mr. Chandler of 
Shirley. 

Mr. Wm. G. Hooker, of New Haven, Ct., has presented, 
besides some books and pamphlets, an ancient portrait of 
Laurentius, author of "Chronica Mundi," who flourished at 
the close of the 15th century. Also a piece of the keel of the 
first ship that went round the world, for the cabinet. 

Dr. Thaddeus M. Harris has deposited in the cabinet a 
bottle of tea, gathered upon the beach at Dorchester Point, 
on the morning after the destruction of the three cargoes, in 

^773- 
The list of periodicals sent to the Library is increased by 

the addition of the Hampshire Gazette printed at North- 
hampton, and Hunt's Merchants Magazine. Deeming it im- 
portant that the valuable statistical information contained 
in the latter work should be in possession of the Society, the 
Librarian ventured to intimate to the editor, that, in view of 
the subscription price, some member would perhaps, when 
occasion offered, furnish a critical notice or an appropriate 
collection of facts for his pubhcation. 

Professor Romeo Elton, an ofiticer of the Rhode Island 
Historical Society, has kindly copied for the benefit of this 
institution, an unpubUshed letter of Roger Williams respecting 
payment to be made to Dr. John Clarke for services in pro- 
curing the charter of Rhode Island in 1663. This mark of 
remembrance and courtesy, from an officer of a kindred 
society, was met on the part of the Librarian by a proposition 
to assist them in making up a set of writings of Roger Williams, 
so far as it could be done from duplicates in this Library. 

An old quarto, formerly the property of the Jewish Rabbi, 
Judah Monis, and of remote date, an antique volume of 
Scottish laws, an ancient collection of "Unheard of Curiosi- 
ties " and some other similar specimens of antiquity, manifest 
the interest felt by our country friends in depositing with 
this institution such appropriate relics as chance to be dis- 
covered in their garrets. 

Since this report was commenced, a package has been re- 
ceived from Hon. John Quincy Adams, directed to the Presi- 
dent of this Society, containing thirteen of his literary and 
political publications. 

Considerable has been done in the way of binding since 
the last meeting of the Society. Two hundred and nine 



Meeting of May 26, 1841 405 

volumes have undergone that process, consisting of news- 
papers, periodicals and pamphlets that have been arranged 
for the purpose, and of some books that were found to need 
this protection from decay. The work on the part of the 
binder has thus far been done with neatness and fidelity, and 
a very handsome addition has by this means been made to 
the shelves of the library. 

Having thus brought to the notice of the Council such 
matters as were deemed principally worthy of comment, in 
the brief outline of occurrences connected with his duties, 
expected at this time of the Librarian, he will close his Report 
by the remark, that evidences of an extending reputation of 
this institution, with an appreciation of its value, are con- 
tinued and increased. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven, Lib'n. 
Oct. 1840. 

MEETING OF MAY 26, 1841 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
at the Tremont House in Boston on Wednesday, May 26, 
1841. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln in the chair. 

The proceedings of the last meeting were read. 

Voted, To proceed to vote for members. 

Chose Rev. Alexander Young, Boston. 
Ira M. Barton, Worcester. 
Sam'l B. Woodward, Worcester. 
Isaac Davis, Worcester, 

The Report of the Council was read to the Society.^ 

Voted, To accept the Report, and that it be put on file, and 
that such parts thereof be published in the usual manner as 
the Librarian shall think proper. John Pickering, LL.D., 
Foreign Corresponding Secretary, made Report.^ 

Voted, To accept the Report, and that it be placed on file. 

Voted, To postpone the choice of President to fill the va- 

^ The Report of the Council made by Wilham Lincoln is missing from the 
files, nor has it been found in any of the newspapers in the Society's library. 
The Reports of the Librarian and Treasurer are here printed, as usual, from the 
files. 

^ The report of Mr. Pickering is printed from the files. 



4o6 American Antiquarian Society 

cancy occasioned by the decease of the Hon. Thomas L. 
Winthrop. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. 
{on acc't of General Fund) 
Dr. 

To amo't paid to constitute the Librarian's Fund Apr. 1831 $1 1,396 . 00 
To amo't p'd to constitute Fund for the Purchase of Books 

and General Research $5,000., with interest to May 1834 6,078.31 

To amo't of expenses paid from 1831 to present time 6,853 • 9^ 

Balance 23 . 62 

$24,351.84 
Cr. 

By amo't rec'd from the estate of Isaiah Thomas to this 

time $23,151.84 

Rec'd of N. Maccarty's estate 500 . 00 

Rec'd of E. D. Bangs " 200.00 

Rec'd donation of W. McFarland 500.00 

$24,351-84 
Dr. 

To notes $1986 . 13 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

$2786.13 
Cr. 

By balance as above $23 . 62 

By cash (due the Treasurer) ' 166 . 08 

By interest received 2596 .43 

$2786.13 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. 
{on accU of Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500.00 

Citizen's Bank Stock 1,100.00 

Notes 11,728.70 

$13,328.70 



Meeting of May 26, 1841 407 

Cr. 

By amo't rec'd April 1831 $11,396.00 

By interest rec'd over the Librarian's salary to April 1841 . . . i ,801 . 87 

By cash (balance due the Treasurer) 5 . 80 

By interest rec'd since April i 125 .03 

$13,328.70 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. 
(on accH of Fund of $5,000) 
Dr. 

To cash pd C. C. Baldwin Aug. 1835 $150.00 

To notes 7030- 37 

To Worcester Bank Stock 700 . 00 

To cash (Bal. due from Treas.) 307 .61 

$8187.98 
Cr. 

By amo't rec'd May 1834 $6078 .31 

By interest received 2 109 . 67 

$8187.98 
Dr. 

Whole amount received $24,351 . 84 

Bal. of first account $2,620 . 05 

" " second " 13,322 . 90 

" "third " 8,187.98 $24,130.93 

Excess of expenditure over the interest $220 . 91 

Expenses since the Treasurer's report in October. 

J. Campbell's acc't for 3 loads sand $2 . 20 

For coal 1 1 • 50 

Lime $3.00; stationery $4.00 7 .00 

For insurance 30 . 00 

Taft Foster's acc't for labor (cellar) 132 . 74 

P. Kendall for labor (cellar) $11.00 11 .00 

Cadogan's acc't for labor 5.25 

For advertising $3.00; 10 I'ds sand $6.00 9.00 

For coal $5.20, ditto $3.25 8.45 

For paper punching press, postage, &c 21 . 82 

N. Davis for labor 6 . 00 

J. Bartlett for painting 6 . 00 

Treasurer's compensation i year 30.00 

$280.96 
Deduct for 16 lbs. zinc sold i . 28 

$279.68 

Balances $24,130.93 

Middlebury property estimated 700 . 00 

Dixmont Mortgages estimated 700.00 

$25,530.93 
May 20, 1841, Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 



4o8 American Antiquarian Society 



Librarian's Report 

The Librarian presents to the Council of the American 
Antiquarian Society his accustomed semi-annual exhibit of 
the condition and progress of the interests confided to his 
charge. 

A list of additions made since the last meeting of the Society, 
accompanies this Report.^ They are arranged, for conven- 
ience' sake, under appropriate heads, corresponding chiefly 
to those adopted in the systematic index of the Library of 
Harvard University. This list enumerates 400 pamphlets, 
71 bound volumes, 300 engravings, 91 maps and charts, two 
parcels of MS. sermons, two ancient portraits, one needlework 
picture, eleven specimens of castings in iron, and seven silver 
coins. There are 52 pamphlets and 11 bound volumes re- 
lating to rehgious subjects and theology, 128 pamphlets and 
4 bound volumes relating to jurisprudence, government and 
laws, 140 pamphlets and 25 volumes relating to science and 
the arts, 82 pamphlets and 20 volumes belonging to the de- 
partment of belles lettres, and 18 pamphlets and 11 volumes 
strictly historical. The names of donors will be found with 
the record of their gifts. 

It cannot be expected that even the principal matters of 
value and interest among these additions, will all of them be 
particularized, or commented upon. The series of the London 
Magazine, from 1732 to 1747, beautifully bound, presented 
by Eben Manly, Esq., of Newburyport, certainly deserves 
especial notice. The elegant 4to volume "Strabonis Geo- 
graphia," 1480, in beautiful binding and perfect preservation, 
is a rare curiosity, for which the Society is much indebted to 
Peter Force, Esq., of Washington. The History of Harvard 
University, by President Quincy; the Judicial History of 
Massachusetts, by Emory Washburn, Esq.; the History of 
Spencer, by James Draper, Esq.; and Shattuck's "Vital 
Statistics of Boston," deposited by their several authors, are 
indications of the activity of historical research in our com- 
munity, and have, therefore, an interest added to their in- 
trinsic value. The large donation of engravings from William 
Lincoln, Esq., comprises many of great beauty, and many also 
of historical importance. Besides the engravings enumerated 
in the catalogue of donations, 19 political caricatures, which 

* This list is missing from the files. 



Meeting of May 26, 1841 409 

will be curious at a future day, have been purchased for the 
Society as appropriate objects of preservation. 

The maps and charts presented by Mr. Lincoln, are of 
great value and should be carefully preserved in suitable 
binding. There are 22 elaborately executed maps of towns 
in Worcester County, and twelve of towns and cities else- 
where; besides numerous charts and plans of states, sections 
and localities, together with railroad routes and other sur- 
veys, executed by public authority, or by engineers of reputa- 
tion for science and accuracy. 

The Journals of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 
lately received from that institution, are the first fruits of an 
arrangement for friendly intercourse and interchange of pro- 
ductions, which, from these specimens, promises to be of 
the highest advantage to this Society. 

As the accompanying catalogue of additions renders the 
extending of particular notices unnecessary, they will not be 
farther pursued. 

No mention is made in the list, of the newspapers which 
are regularly received and of which it is the policy of the 
Society to preserve considerable numbers in binding. Those 
formerly named as sent by publishers, and other individuals, 
directly to the Society, are still continued. 

While one of the members of the Council was conductor 
of a newspaper in this town,^ many exchange-papers and other 
publications that flow incidentally into the office of an editor, 
were received from that source. The statistical, historical, 
and other facts, cut from papers and preserved in volumes by 
the same gentleman while engaged in those labors, will also, 
it is presumed, at sometime inure to the benefit of this institu- 
tion. Since he reHnquished those duties, they have been 
undertaken by the Librarian, and all the opportunities which 
that employment affords for promoting the objects of this 
Society, and increasing its collections, will, of course, be ap- 
plied to that purpose. Some periodicals of value, and news- 
papers from all parts of the coimtry, are obtained in that way, 
and the example of collecting miscellanies by the aid of 
scissors and paste will be followed. 

The persons employed to do the binding of the Society 
have of late been so much engaged in the completion of 
other contracts, as to make it necessary for them to postpone 

^ Mr. William Lincoln was twice editor of the National Aegis, first in 1825, 
and again from January, 1838, to the latter part of 1840. 



4IO American Antiquarian Society 

attention to the work which has been ready for them here. 
They are now, however, nearly prepared to commence binding 
again for us. 

The subject of a new and permanent arrangement of the 
Library that should be accompanied with the numbering of 
each volume and an entry of its exact position on the Cata- 
logue, has lately been a subject of consideration with the Coun- 
cil. It has been proposed that some measures should be 
adopted to secure its accompHshment the ensuing summer, 
and for that purpose to procure such assistance as may be 
requisite. 

During cold weather, for want of fires, the state of the 
air is such as to place any prolonged labors in the Library 
out of the question. Even a brief stay has been found of 
dangerous consequences to health. The Librarian's room, 
alone, being warmed, whatever is done to or with the books 
during winter, has to be done there. It seems necessary, 
therefore, that this labor of arrangement, etc., should be 
performed in simimer, notwithstanding the inconveniences re- 
sulting from an increased number of visitors at that period. 
It is well known that the handling of books, however it may 
brighten the understanding, is apt exceedingly to soil the 
outward man, and that even the venerated dust of antiquity 
affords no very meet preparation for receiving the visits of 
strangers, especially of ladies, who, not less frequently than 
the other sex, honor our halls with their presence. With the 
aid of an assistant such matters could be more conveniently 
managed. It may be doubted, so far as a judgment can be 
formed from the experience of past efforts, whether one person 
alone can perform such duties except in a very gradual man- 
ner and by means of much additional labor, and much repeti- 
tion of labor. 

The policy of the Society in making its halls free to the 
public of all classes, and nearly at all times, undoubtedly has 
its advantages. It draws attention to our objects, awakens 
interest, and leads often to valuable donations. But to these 
advantages some sacrifices have to be made. The time of the 
Librarian is consumed or broken into fragments of little 
value, often without a corresponding gain to the public or 
the institution. The ordinary attentions to visitors, listening 
to their conversation, answering their questions, and gratify- 
ing their curiosity, will of itself occupy no small portion of 
business hours, apart from the more appropriate employment 



Meeting of May 26, 1841 411 

of aiding in researches and responding to the calls of historical 
and literary enquirers. 

A greater trouble arises from injury done to books and other 
collections by a crowd of careless people, who are regardless 
of admonition and intent only on the gratification of curiosity. 
Our Library is not sufficiently protected in this particular. 
Divided into small rooms remote from each other, no single 
eye can guard them. The most that can be done is to watch 
the ingress and egress of visitors who come as strangers, 
learn their wants and give them cautions and trust to their 
sense of propriety. It has been customary to permit persons 
who were known or who brought an introduction, to examine 
such books as they chose and as long as they chose. Many 
such readers constantly have the privilege of the Library. 
There unavoidably results from such a general and active use 
of the Library by the public an exposure to injury, wear, and 
disarrangement greater than exists in ordinary cases. 

The preparation of this Report brings forcibly to mind 
the loss sustained by the Society in the death of its late 
President. It was seldom that many weeks elapsed without 
some token of remembrance from him, to be recorded in the 
hst of donations. But it is not these alone whose absence is 
noticed. The not infrequent correspondence and the oc- 
casional opportunities of personal intercourse, in all which 
an ever active interest in the progress and welfare of our in- 
stitution was manifested, as they were a personal enjoyment, 
so the deprivation of them is a personal grief to the Librarian, 
added to that which he shows with the rest of the Society. 
A tribute even slight to his memory and his merits will not 
be attempted here. An ampler space and time than can be 
appropriated now would be required for a private expression, 
merely, of a sense of his deserts and regret at his departure. 
A distinguished officer, and Hberal benefactor of this Society, 
and the honored representative of a name that lies at the 
foundation of New ^^ngland history, it is presumed will not 
be suffered to sleep with his fathers without a fitting memorial 
from the institution he has cherished. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

Sam'l F. Haven. 



412 American Antiquarian Society 

Report of Foreign Corresponding Secretary 

To the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Foreign Corresponding Secretary reports that in pur- 
suance of the vote passed at the annual meeting held on the 
27th of May 1840, he addressed letters (accompanied with the 
Transactions of the Society) to the following societies in 
France, viz: 

The General Statistical Society, 
The Historical Society, and 
The Geographical Society, 

and expressing the wishes of the American Antiquarian Society 
to open a correspondence and an interchange of pubhcations 
with those institutions. 

From the Statistical Society an official letter has been re- 
ceived, expressing great satisfaction at the proposed corre- 
spondence and interchange, and accompanied with an order 
from the director of that Society for the delivery of a set of 
the last series of its transactions (being five volumes in 8vo.) 
to the American Antiquarian Society — the letter and order 
are herewith submitted. 

From the other foreign societies named in the vote above 
mentioned, no answers have yet been received. 
All which is respectfully submitted. 

Jno. Pickering, For. Cor. Sec'y. 
Boston, May 26th, 1841. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1841 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, on Saturday, Oct. 23, 1841. 

His Excellency, John Davis, Vice-President, in the Chair. 

The Report of the Council of the Society was read; also 
the Reports of the Librarian and Treasurer to the Council. 

Voted, That the Treasurer's Report be committed to 
Hon. John W. Lincoln and Benjamin F. Thomas, Esq., to 
be audited by them, they to make report to the Council. 

Voted, That the Reports be accepted and placed on file, 
and that the Librarian be directed to publish such parts thereof 
as he may think proper and that the Report of the Treasurer 
be placed on file. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1841 413 

Voted, That when this meeting adjourn, it be to November 
17th next, at eleven o'clock A.M. 

Voted, That the Secretary be requested to give the usual 
notice by advertisement of said adjournment, and that the 
Librarian be requested to give notice thereof by letter to all 
members in Boston and vicinity. 

Voted, To adjourn this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice N-ewton, Rec'gSec'y. 



Report of the Council 

On the twenty-third annual meeting of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, the Council respectfully submit their Report. 

By the statutes of the institution, the Board honored by 
the trust of managing its concerns, are required semi-annually 
to render to the members an account of the state of the funds, 
buildings, library, property, and affairs of the Society. 

From year to year, it has been the happiness of the Council 
to report the evidence of the prosperity of the association. 
Again they have the pleasure to present their testimony of 
the increasing usefulness, enlarged acquisitions, and extending 
reputation of the institution. 

The condition of the treasury has been so frequently and 
fully explained that the detail of the state of the several 
funds, would almost seem to be weary repetition. As the 
laws require that such view should be presented, it cannot 
properly be omitted. Apart from such obligation, it is con- 
venient at fixed times to pla(^e on file or record, an abstract 
of the doings of each department for future reference; and 
it is greatly expedient, at brief intervals, to require from every 
officer the account of his administration, that all may be 
satisfied of the fideHty and integrity with which his trusts 
have been executed, or, if error should exist, that it may be 
instantly corrected. 

I . Funds 

The funds have remained under the management of our 
excellent Treasurer, Samuel Jennison, Esq., who has long 
conducted the fiscal concerns with such prudence and skill 
that no loss of principal or interest has been sustained. There 
is occasion for congratulation that in times when credit had 



414 American Antiquarian Society 

become uncertain and many dangers attended the invest- 
ment of capital, no diminution has taken place. 

The available property of the Society amounted on the 
20th of October current, to the sum of $25,781.30, which is 
described as follows: 

ist Balance of Library Fund $13,406 . 76 

2nd " " Fund of Antiquities and Researches 8,286.23 

3rd " " General Fund 2,688.31 

4th Value of Estate in Middlebury, estimated at 700 . 00 

5th " " Mortgages of lands in Dixmont 700.00 

$25,781.30 

^ The funds consisting in money, have been well invested. 
The estate in Vermont still remains unsold, by reason of the 
difficulty of finding purchasers at the fair price, but yields 
rent, and the sums secured by mortgages of farms in Maine 
afford the usual income by interest. 

The receipts during the coming year will probably exceed 
fiftten hundred dollars. 

The expenditures may be estimated as follows: 

1. Salary of Treasurer $30 . 00 

2. Salary of Librarian 600. 00 

3. Repairs and improvements 100 . 00 

4. Binding tracts, newspapers and books 100.00 

5. Printing, transportation, fuel, etc 50.00 

6. Contingent expense 25. 00 

$905 . 00 

At the close of the next Antiquarian year, unless some 
extraordinary and unexpected demand may arise, there will 
remain in the treasury a surplus of revenues over expenses 
of about five himdred dollars, for accumulation or for such 
other disposition as the Society may order. 

2. BmLDINGS 

Extensive repairs have been made on the buildings during 
the past year. Decay had extended over the roofs of the 
Halls, so far as to render it indispensably necessary that the 
coverings should be renewed, to protect the books, papers 
and other collections from irreparable [damage]. The 
dangerous character of the soil on which the structures were 
placed rendered it expedient to protect them from sinking. 
These works have been executed with due regard to economy. 
Some further expenditures will be indispensable for main- 



Meeting of October 2j, 1841 415 

taining the just level and uprightness of the exterior and in- 
terior walls of the edifices which, if immediately applied, 
will not exceed the estimate for repairs. 

Improvements have been carried on carefully around the 
ground. The southern wall, which had been undermined by 
neighbors, who had compensated by the donation of land for 
the injury to our original territory, having become dilapi- 
dated, has been reconstructed in such manner as to add to 
the beauty of the green, encircled with the girdle of trees. 
The walk along the front has been elevated, graded, and 
planted. The groves around the Hall have spread the 
branches broad and raised them high with vigorous growth, 
and will soon encircle the Halls with belts of verdure. 

3. Library 

Within the year, since the Society last assembled in their 
annual meeting, many and valuable accessions have been 
made to the collections of Antiquarian Hall. From the re- 
port of the Librarian, which the Council have the honor to 
submit as part of their own, and from a former statement of 
that officer at the semi-annual meeting, it appears that 169 
bound volumes and 1,008 tracts and pamphlets have been 
added to the Library since October last. To estimate the 
extent of the increase of the treasures of the Society by the 
number of books which have been placed on its shelves dur- 
ing the period, would be as difficult as to determine the value 
of diamonds of different weight and lustre, by merely count- 
ing the number of the gems. Some of the acquisitions have 
been of rare works, others have been valuable because they 
have continued the series of pubHcations already commenced, 
and all are useful for the reason that they have reunited 
broken links or furnished fresh materials for the chain of 
history. The judicious system of arrangement adopted by 
Mr. Haven enables us to form some estimate of the character 
of these pubKcations. 

34 vols. 116 pamphlets relate directly to history. 

51 " 205 " " to jurisprudence, gov't, or politics. 

35 " 231 " " to science and the arts. 
24 " 154 " " belles lettres. 

35 " 232 " " to theological subjects and religion. 

One hundred and four maps, plans, and charts have been 
received. Among them are almost all those of the towns of 



41 6 American Antiquarian Society 

Worcester county which have been published, and many 
illustrating the geography of the Eastern and Western states. 
About three hundred engravings swell the list. This collec- 
tion contains views of American cities, delineations of pubHc 
buildings, representations of ancient and modern monuments 
and of foreign and domestic scenery; portraits of distin- 
guished men and caricatures produced by the parties of past 
and present days. They will serve to illustrate the architec- 
ture, art of design, and spirit of the times to which they 
belong. 

Several castings in iron seem to stand midway between 
engraving and painting, as the beauty of their execution 
and delicacy of finish rival the excellence of the works of the 
artists who display their skill on paper or on canvas. These 
were presented by the Librarian from the foundry at Lowell. 

Among the paintings which have been brought to ornament 
our walls during the year, are two of antique worth in venerable 
olden frames, portraying the good of olden time, and one of 
Teniers^ from Mr. Parker, of domestic, if not of still life. 
Some works of the needle exhibit the church and bridal 
ceremonies in 1755.^ Whether the colors of the silk from the 
needle or those from the pencil are most true, can be de- 
termined by those who have attended on such occasions in 
similar situations. Numerous other additions have been 
contributed by liberal benefactors. 

The greatest and best improvement which has been made 
during the year, has been in such arrangement of the Library 
as will enable members and visitors to procure from the al- 
coves, the works which may be interesting from curiosity, 
or needed for occasional use or historical interest. It is 
understood, that by the direction of the Council, and under 
the supervision of the Librarian, Mr. Chase has been employed 
in the labor of making an accurate examination of the collec- 
tions, and in diligently comparing the titles of the books on 
the printed Catalogue, with the books which occupy the 
shelves, and indicating their places. In the progress of this 
examination the industry of the Librarian has found many 
errors in the entry of the titles of works, particularly of those 
in the German language, and has discovered many omissions 

1 The authorship of this painting is doubted. It has been recently deposited 
in the Worcester Art Museum. 

"^ The tapestry shows the date 1756 over the door of the church. It is said 
to have been worked by Mrs. Gardiner Chandler and was purchased at the 
sale of the eflfects of her son-in-law, Judge Nathaniel Paine. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1841 417 

and corrected many misprints in the description of other 
books; and that many tracts, whose names by accident or 
inadvertence were unintentionally omitted or overlooked, in 
the inventory of the Antiquarian Society's possessions, have 
been installed in their appropriate positions. 

Two parcels of manuscript sermons have been acquired since 
the last annual meeting. The original writings wluch furnish 
facts for history are of more valuable character than those 
which merely contain opinions and speculations. Yet they 
belong to a class of collections of an interesting character 
which becomes valuable as the leaves grow scarce. 

4. Cabinet 

While the collections which grace the shelves have been 
increased and the walls of the Library adorned with appro- 
priate decorations, the Cabinet has not failed to receive ac- 
cessions. Coins have been obtained which were very rare 
and rich; among them are two bearing the impression of the 
Pine Tree of Massachusetts; some of great interest, which 
have been recently disinterred, which it is said are supposed 
to have been buried by Baron Castine; and a few of ancient 
Roman coppers. 

Such is the general view of the progress and condition of the 
Society during the year preceding its present meeting. Its 
advance has been brightened with continued prosperity, and 
cheered by the increasing favor and good will of the com- 
munity, and it has not failed to accomplish much of the 
primary purpose of its foimdation by aiding in the preser- 
vation of memorials of the past, and materials for the use of 
the future. 

The Reports of the Treasurer and Librarian are annexed 
to this paper, and the Council request that both may be con- 
sidered as parts of this statement. The minute details they 
contain will render any further explanation unnecessary. 

All which is respectfully submitted for the Council, 

William Lincoln, Committee} 

^ Mr. Bumside was associated with Mr. Lincoln on the Committee, but the 
report was written by the latter. 



41 8 American Antiquarian Society 



Treasurer's Report 

American Antig. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
acc't of General Residuary Fund) 

Dr. 

To amo't of expenses paid to this time $6924.65 

To notes secured by mortgages and other ways 1986. 13 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

To Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

$9710.78 

Cr. 
By amount rec'd after deducting amount of Librarian's 

Fund and Fund of $5000 $6977 . 53 

By cash (bal. due the Treas.) 97 82 

By interest received 2635 . 43 

$9710.78 

Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. {on acc't 
of Fund of $12,000) 

Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

To Citizen's Bank Stock 1,100.00 

To Notes 11,713.24 

Cash Bal. on hand 43-52 

$13,406.76 
Cr. 

By amount rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

By interest rec'd more than the salary of Librarian i ,926 . 46 

By interest rec'd since Oct. i 84 . 30 

$13,406.76 

Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. {on acc't 
of Fund of $5,000) 

Dr. 

To notes $7511.37 

Worcester Bank Stock 700 . 00 

Cash Bal. on hand 74 . 36 

$8286.23 
Cr. 

By amount rec'd (bal. Aug. 3, 1835) $5928.31 

Interest received 2357 . 92 

$8286.23 



i Meeting of October 2j, 1841 419 

Balance of General Fund $2,688 .31 

" of Fund of $12,000 13,406.76 

" of Fund of $5000 8,286 . 23 

Mortgages in Maine 700 . 00 

Estate in Middlebury 700 . 00 

Property of the Society $25,781 . 30 

October 20, 1841. Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 

Librarian's Report 

To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

Since the report rendered in May last of the condition and 
progress of the interests of this Society that are committed 
to the charge of the Librarian, a period of five months has 
elapsed, embracing that portion of the year when visitors 
most frequent the Library, and the time of the Librarian is 
chiefly occupied with the incidental duties to which these 
visits give rise. It is the shortest of the intervals between 
the meetings of the Society and it covers that season when 
according to past experience, fewest contributions are generally 
received. Strangers and others, from abroad, who, during 
the siramaer and autumn, have found in our collections a 
gratification of their curiosity, or an answer to their historical 
inquiries, are apt, afterward, to remember the institution 
when books or other matters appropriate to its objects happen 
to fall in their way. Hence the good- will that is sown in 
summer by the liberaUty of our institution, does not always 
ripen into fruit until a season which, to other harvests, would 
not be congenial. 

There is however no reason to complain of what the past 
five months have incidentally yielded. I find that within 
that period there have been added to the Library 608 pam- 
phlets, 98 volumes of books, 13 maps and charts, 15 engrav- 
ings, one ancient painting, 5 articles of curiosity and 6 valuable 
and curious coins. 

Arranging these additions under the various heads adopted 
in my last report, it appears, that there are 23 volumes and 
98 pamphlets of an historical character, 47 volumes and 
77 pamphlets relating to jurisprudence, government or poli- 
tics, 10 volumes and 191 pamphlets belonging to science and 
the arts, 4 volumes and 62 pamphlets of belles lettres and 
24 volumes and 180 pamphlets in the class of theology. 



420 American Antiquarian Society 

Among those works denominated historical are the series 
of Journals de L'Institut Historique of Paris, from 1803 to 
1841, and 4 volumes of Transactions, presented by the His- 
torical Institute of Paris, in return for the Transactions of 
the Antiquarian Society forwarded to that institution. They 
were accompanied by a friendly and cordial letter expressive 
of the desire of the Institute to continue a correspondence and 
interchange of publications. An additional volume pubhshed 
by the Record Comimission of the British Goverrm:ient, and 
another of the Memoirs of the Royal Society of Antiquaries 
at Copenhagen, are also contributions from abroad belonging 
to this division of subjects. Of associations at home similar 
to our own, the Pennsylvania Historical Society has presented 
a volume of Memoirs published by that institution in 1840. 
The History of Long Island by Benjamin F. Thompson, an 
8vo of 536 pages; "Details of the American Revolution," 
printed from a manuscript Journal purchased in London by 
Ithiel Town of New York; the History of Holden, Mass., by 
Sam'l C. Damon; and some other smaller historical writings 
were deposited by their respective authors ; and several works 
relating to American history and antiquities from the pen of 
Prof. Rafinesque, and a fac-simile of an ancient Phoenician in- 
scription were, with some documents of less particular con- 
sequence, given by Dr. Mease of Philadelphia, a member of 
this Society. 

Under the head of jurisprudence, government and politics, 
it is proper to particularize 45 bound volumes of documents 
from the Department of State of the United States. Speeches 
in Congress, political papers, and some law magazines and 
reports, make up the residue of this division. 

In the class of science and the arts, are included the tenth 
volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 
of London, from that Society, Shephard's Mineralogy in two 
vols., and a system of Mineralog}^ by James Dwight Dana, in 
each case from the author; the new and complete Catalogue 
of the Library of Congress, numerous catalogues of libraries 
and of members of literary institutions and societies; to- 
gether with scientific treatises, reports, and periodicals. 

The additions that are comprised imder the denomination 
of helles lettres are magazines in volumes or separate numbers, 
and miscellaneous pamphlets of a literary character. 

The head of theology embraces a variety of volumes of a 
religious and theological nature, some quite ancient, sermons, 



Meeting of October 2j, 1841 421 

tracts, reports and journals of religious associations, etc., etc. 
Among these is another of the volumes from the library of 
Rev. Thos. Prince, which efforts have been made to collect 
from the towns in this neighborhood, among which they were 
scattered some time since, by a sale at auction. This volume 
was discovered in Princeton by Rev. Seth Chandler of Shirley, 
who presented it, and contains, besides the autograph of 
Thomas Prince, sundry memoranda in his handwriting. 

Among the maps, charts and engravings are a beautiful 
map of Taunton on rollers, from the publisher; a fac-simile 
of Ptolemy's Map of the World from F. R. Hassler, Esq.; 
several large and valuable maps and drawings from Congress; 
a collection of maps of the Western States and also a collec- 
tion of engravings representing cities, views and buildings 
at the West, from William Lincoln, Esq.; a fac-simile of 
autographs of members of the Society of Cincinnati belonging 
to the Massachusetts line, splendidly framed and glazed, 
presented by that Society; and a beautiful framed engraving 
of Pope Pius 7th, the donation of Mr. Parker of Millbury. 

The division of paintings and curiosities, exhibits an original 
picture by Teniers (a drinking scene) from Mr. Parker of 
Millbury; a mammoth pike and an Indian dress brought from 
the far West by Mr. Lincoln, Esq.; and other articles that do 
not demand a specific description. The coins are, a Pine 
Tree shilling from Mr. Henry Foster, of New York; a Pine 
Tree three-penny bit from Dr. Moore of Millbury; three 
Roman copper coins from Dan'l Temple, Jr., of Smyrna; 
and a specimen of the coins lately found at Castine, Maine, 
and supposed from their locality, etc., to have been buried 
by the Baron Castine himself, from Edwin Dodge, Esq., of 
New York. 

Besides the additions that have been enumerated in classes, 
many files of newspapers, agricultural, political, religious, etc., 
have been preserved, to enlarge that department of the Li- 
brary. William Lincoln, Esq., has presented specimens or 
series of most of the mammoth papers that are the whim of 
the present day and may be curious hereafter, and Dr. Park 
and S. M. Burnside, Esq., have each contributed to swell the 
amount of our newspaper collections. 

The greatest number of pamphlets, etc., received from one 
individual were presented by Dr. J. Porter of Plainfield, a 
member of the Society, who has before been a liberal contribu- 
tor of that species of literature. 



422 American Antiquarian Society 

With a large number of small donations it is of course im- 
possible to mention in a report the name of each giver. It is 
well however, to state particularly what members of the 
Society have made deposits of use or importance. Dr. Porter 
of Plainfield, Dr. Mease of Philadelphia, F. R. Hassler, Esq., 
of Washington, Wm. Lincohi, Esq., Dr. Park and S. M. Burn- 
side, Esq., of Worcester have already been alluded to in the 
specifications of this report. It should be added that the 
venerable Mr. Swords of New York continues to send a 
monthly package of newspapers and periodicals. 

By a vote of the Council of the Society, the Librarian was 
directed to procure the assistance of some suitable person, 
to be engaged during the summer in numbering the books of 
the Library, making a reference in the Catalogue to the lo- 
cation of each volume, and to do whatever might be required 
in completing the arrangement of the Library, and preparing 
a list of duplicates. In conformity to this direction, Mr. 
Pliny Chase, a well educated gentleman of this town, was em- 
ployed for those purposes, and devoted a large portion of 
his time to their accomplishment, until unexpectedly called 
away by an appointment in a Uterary institution at the South. 
Since then some partial service in the least difficult portion 
of these labors, has been rendered by a younger brother.^ 
The system of numbering adopted, has been to place three 
figures on every volume ; the first representing the number of 
the alcove, the second that of the shelf, and the third the 
station of the volume upon the shelf. Corresponding figures 
are placed in the margin of the Catalogue, opposite the title 
of the book, so that its position is thus precisely designated. 
In this manner the greater part of the Library has now been 
gone through with, each book compared with its title in the 
catalogue, and errors corrected and new entries made where 
required. The process has necessarily been a slow and tedious 
one, but of obvious importance, and it is desirable that it 
should be fully carried out. 

The experience of the Librarian enables him to say that 
the Society appears to be successfully accomplishing its ob- 
jects. Its value is proved by daily use on the part of the com- 
munity, and the extent of that use and a sense of its value 
is rapidly increasing. The number of visitors to the Library 
during the past season has greatly exceeded that of former 

' Probably Thomas Chase, who was then fourteen years old. 



Meeting of May 2^, 1842 423 

periods, and inquiries for information on every variety of 
subjects have been greatly multiplied. 
All of which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven, Librarian. 
Oct. 23, 1841. 

MEETING of NOVEMBER 17, 1841 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
by adjournment at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Wednes- 
day, Nov. 17th, 1841. 

His Excellency John Davis in the Chair. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers of the Society 
for the ensuing year. 

Chose, Hon. Edward Everett, President. 

His Ex'y John Davis, ist Vice-President. 

Hon. Joseph Story, 2d Vice-President. 

Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Hon. John Pickering, Foreign Corresponding Secretary. 

Benjamin F. Thomas, Domestic Corresponding Secretary. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
DocT. John Park. 
DocT. John Green. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Emory Washburn, Esq. 

Committee of Publication 

DocT. John Park. 
William Lincoln, Esq. 
Alfred D. Foster, Esq. 

Voted, To adjourn this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Secretary. 



MEETING OF MAY 25, 1842 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society hetd 
at Tremont House, in Boston, May 25, 1842. 
His Excellency John Davis, Vice-Prest., in the Chair. 



424 American Antiquarian Society 

The Secretary read the records of the proceedings of the 
two last meetings, also the letter of the Hon. Edward Everett 
accepting the office of President of the Society.^ 

The Report of the Council to the Society, and the Semi- 
annual Reports of the Treasurer and Librarian were read. 

Voted, That the reports be accepted and placed on file, and 
that such parts thereof as the Committee of Publication may 
think proper be published. 

Hon. John Pickering requested, by letter, that he might 
be permitted to resign the office of Foreign Corresponding 
Secretary — Whereupon 

Voted, That the Secretary be directed to request Mr. 
Pickering to hold the office until the annual meeting.^ 

Voted, To act upon the nominations of Rev. Joseph B. 
Felt, of Boston, and Thomas Kirmicutt, Esq., of Worcester. 

They were both unanimously elected members of the Society. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec^g Sec'y. 

1 The following is the text of Everett's letter, taken from the files: — 

London, 23 April, 1842. 
Sir, 

Your favor of the i8th Nov. last, informing me that the American Anti- 
quarian Society had, at their meeting on the preceding day, been pleased to 
elect me President of the Society, was received by me, on the 21st of the present 
month. I am very grateful to the Society for the honor done me. My first 
impulse, however, would be respectfully to decline the appointment, on the 
ground that my absence from home must prevent my discharging the duties 
of the ofiice, and the fear, that the convenience of the Society might suffer in 
consequence. But inasmuch as the Society was aware, that I should probably 
be absent some time, and was still pleased to confer on me the honor of this 
election, I feel bound to yield myself to its disposal; and shall take great pleas- 
ure, if, while prevented from performing the active duties of the chair, I can 
render to the Society any other service. 

I am. Sir, with great respect, 

Your obedient servant. 
Rejoice Newton, Esq. Edward Everett. 

Corresponding Secretary 

of the American Antiquarian Society. 



* Mr. Pickering made the following Report to the Society: 

To the American Antiquarian Society 
The Foreign Corresponding Secretary reports: 

That no communications have been received by him for the Society since 
those which were formerlj' laid before them. 
All which is respectfully submitted. 

Jno. Pickering, 

For. Cor. Sec'y. 
Boston, May 23, 1842. 



Meeting of May 25, 1842 425 

Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society respectfully 
submit their semi-annual Report: 

A full and minute exposition of the condition of the Society 
and of its Library and finances was made in the last annual 
Report the Council had the honor to submit, and in the Re- 
ports of the Librarian and Treasurer which accompanied 
and made part of that Report. So brief a period has since 
elapsed and so little change in the condition of the affairs of 
the Society been affected, that a report in detail at the present 
time could be little more than a repetition of the facts or sug- 
gestions already submitted to the consideration of the Society. 

Since our last meeting the Society has been quietly and 
successfully pursuing the objects contemplated in its estab- 
lishment. The Library is gradually increasing both in the num- 
ber and in the value of its collections. Since the last Report 
ninety volumes of books and six hundred and seventy-seven 
pamphlets have been added. The additions to the collec- 
tion of newspapers have been unusually large and valuable. 
The interesting report of the Librarian herewith submitted, 
will explain the character of the various works that have been 
added to the Library, and the donors from whom they have 
been derived. 

The amount of the funds of the Society in the treasury on 
the twentieth was $26,056.85. 

The Treasurer since the last Report has received from the 
executor of the estate of Hon. Christopher G. Champlin, of 
Newport, R. I., the sum of $100.00, being the amount of a 
bequest of Mr. Champlin to the Society. 

The semi-annual Report of the Treasurer to the Council 
is annexed to be made a part of this Report. 

All of which is submitted. 

By order of the Council, 

Benj. F. Thomas, 



S. M. Burnside, • Committee. 



At a meeting of the Council of the American Antiquarian 
Society held May 20, 1842. 

Voted, To accept the foregoing as the Report of the Council 
to be made to the Society at their meeting to be held at Boston 
on Wednesday the 25th inst. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



426 American Antiquarian Society 

Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq. Society, in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. 
(Fund of $12,000.00 for support of Librarian, &'c.) 

Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500.00 

To Citizens Bank Stock 1,100.00 

To Notes secured by mortgages and otheirwise 12, 2 23. 35 

$13,823.35 

Cr. 
By amo't rec'd May 21, 1831, to constitute the permanent 

fund of $12,000, April 4, 1832 $11,396.00 

By income rec'd exceeding the salary of the Librarian 1,888 . 51 

By interest rec'd since April 4 104 • 17 

Cash due the Treas., on this acc't 434.67 

$13,823.35 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas., 
{Fund of $5,000, for Historical Research, ^c.) 
Dr. 

To notes secured by mortgages and otherwise $7175 . 27 

To Worcester Bank Stock 700.00 

To cash due from the Treas., on this acc't 836.35 

$8711.63 
Cr. 

By balance Aug. 3, 1835 $5928.31 

Interest rec'd since Aug. 1835 2783 .31 

$8711.62 

The Am. Antiq. Society in acc't ivith S. Jennison, Treas. 
{on ace t of Residuary Fund) 

Qr. 
To amo't paid to constitute the Special Funds of $12,000, 

and of $5000, and for expenses to the present time $24,626.30 

To notes with mortgage and otherwise secured 1,986. 13 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

To Worcester Bank Stock 400.00 

$27,412.43 

Cr. 
By amo't rec'd from I. Thomas, Esq., and from other 

sources $24,451 . 84 

From executor of Chris. G. Champhn amo't of a legacy. . . . 100.00 

Bal. due the Treasurer on this acc't 124. 58 

By interest rec'd to this time 2,731 .01 

$27,412.43 



\ 



Meeting of May 25, 1842 427 

Amount of Fund of $12,000 $13,388.68 

Amount of Fund of $5000 8,711 . 62 

Amount of Residuary Fund 2,656 . 55 

$24,756.85 

MiddJebury estate 700.00 

Mortgages in Maine 600.00 

$26,056.85 
Worcester, May 20, 1842. Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 

Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian respectfully submits his first semi-annual 
Report of the year 1842, 

There have been added to the collections of the Society, 
since the last semi-annual Report, 42 volumes and 7 pamphlets 
of a historical character — 15 volumes and 126 pamphlets re- 
lating to science and the arts — 16 volumes and 219 pamphlets 
reUgious or theological — 6 volumes and 42 pamphlets belong- 
ing to the department of helles lettres, and 11 volumes and 269 
pamphlets relating to jurisprudence, government or politics. 
These heads are intended to be of a very general and compre- 
hensive character; but there is a remnant consisting chiefly 
of the publications of moral and benevolent associations that 
can be classed under no other designation than that of philan- 
thropy; and others that must simply be termed miscellaneous. 

The aggregate of books in volumes is 90 and the pamphlets 
677, nearly all of which have been received without other 
cost to the Society than an occasional charge for transporta- 
tion. A very few have been purchased as favorable oppor- 
tunities occurred of procuring at a small price such works as 
were desirable for the Library. 

Of newspapers there have been presented, a bound volume 
of the Washington Globe, a bound volume of the Springfield 
Republican, and files of the National Intelligencer, the Wash- 
ington Globe, the Boston Atlas, the Boston Courier, the 
Christian Register, and the National Aegis. The librarian 
has been able to preserve files of the Richmond Whig, the 
Richmond Enquirer, the Madisonian, the N. Y. American, 
the Troy Whig, the New Hampshire Statesman, the Rutland 
Herald, the Northampton Gazette, the Springfield Repubhcan, 



428 American Antiquarian Society 

the Boston Courier, the Erie Chronicle, the Western Atlas, 
the Cincinnati Chronicle and of eight agricultural papers 
from different sections of the country. He has also secured 
the preservation of files of other papers by persons who will 
ultimately deposit them in the Society's Library, so that this 
important though cumbrous department more than main- 
tains its customary rate of increase. 

Nine charts of Government surveys, an engraved plan of 
manufacturing localities at Chicopee Falls, two engravings, 
three coins, and casts of Clevenger's busts of Webster and 
Clay, are also to be enumerated with the additions. 

It has been customary in the reports of the Librarian to 
mention the means of members of the Society who have con- 
tributed to the increase of its collections, and to state the 
source from which other donations have been received in 
cases which justify a special notice. 

WiUiam Lincoln, Esq., has always been a constant and 
liberal contributor. We have occasion at this time to ac- 
knowledge our particular obligations to him, for a collection 
of historical and descriptive works, such as Traveller's 
Guides, gazetteers, statistical manuals, etc., etc., illustrating 
the condition, growth, resources and scenery of the Western 
States, and of other portions of the Union. They very ap- 
propriately follow the series of views of cities, buildings and 
scenery mentioned in the Librarian's last Report, as presented 
by the same hand. 

Samuel Wells, Esq., of Northampton, has deposited a copy 
of Avdall's History of Armenia, in two volumes, handsomely 
printed. Professor Goddard of Providence has sent a package 
of addresses and historical pamphlets, and from Dr. John 
Park, S. M. Bumside, Esq., and Hon. Rejoice Newton, 
files of newspapers have been received. 

It cannot be expected, however, that at any particular 
period a very large portion of the accessions should be de- 
rived from members. They are Umited in nimiber, compared 
with the community at large, which is, of course, a gradual 
but regular source of supply. 

The Society is indebted to Hon. Simon Newton Dexter of 
Whitesto^vvn, New York, late one of the Canal Commissioners 
of that State, for a box of pamphlets consistmg of canal re- 
ports and other public documents of New York. The same 
gentleman has engaged to procure a set of valuable and costly 
publications issued at the expense of the government, relating 



Meeting of May 25, 1842 429 

to the public works of that State. Indeed, his influence and 
the exertions of several members of the senate, have been 
kindly offered to obtain the passage of an act authorising the 
deposit in this Library, of all documents issued under the 
direction of the legislature of New York, of which spare 
copies are or may be in their possession or at their command. 

Samuel Bowles, Esq., editor of the Springfield Repubhcan, 
has presented a bound volume of his paper, and a box of pam- 
phlets, consisting partly of periodicals, more or less perfect 
in their series, some of them complete and valuable. Maturin 
L. Fisher, Esq., of Worcester, has deposited files of papers 
both bound and unbound; and with a single exception all 
the persons named in former reports as transmitting regularly 
papers or magazines, still continue their good offices. 

Seven bound volumes of anti-masonic publications were 
sent to the library by Mr. Henry Gasset of Boston, with a 
request that they might have a permanent and conspicuous 
place, and be as free for use as any others in the Library. 
As this desire was expressed in the form of a condition prec- 
edent to the donation, a promise of compliance with its 
simple requirements was returned with an acknowledgment 
of the receipt of the books. 

The Geographical Societies of Paris and of London, have 
each transmitted a continuation of their transactions. 

Allusion has sometimes been made in past reports to the 
fragments of the library of Thomas Prince, that are scattered 
about a portion of Worcester County. Sundry volumes of 
these have heretofore been found by enquiry, and they seem 
to be gradually dropping into the Library of this Society, 
sometimes singly and sometimes two or three together. They 
have always, each in its turn, received an honorable notice. 
It is but a few weeks since, that an antique quarto, in good 
preservation, saving the loss of its title page, was brought 
bv a citizen of Holden, because of its ancient aspect, as an 
appropriate companion of such as he had noticed upon the 
shelves of our Library. On examination it proved to contain 
the principal philosophical works of Sir Kenelm Digby, in 
the original editions of 1644-5 ^s arranged by him and dedi- 
cated to his son. This volume is evidently from the Prince 
collection. It would be pleasant to be able to fill a case from 
that source to stand beside those of the Mathers. 

The process of binding continues to advance as rapidly 
as the progress of arrangement and the convenience of the 



43 o American Antiquarian Society 

binders will admit. During the last summer the task of 
labelling the books in the Library was nearly completed. 
The number of dupUcate volumes separated from the rest in 
the accomplishment of that labor is 542, in all cases dupli- 
cates of editions as well as of works. These are mostly well 
bound and some of them are rare and valuable. It is a matter 
for consideration whether they shall be disposed of in the mass, 
or retained for the chance of gradually exchanging them for 
other works. 

In conclusion, the Librarian may remark that the Institu- 
tion appears to be in a flourishing condition, both as regards 
its advancement and the amount of practical use which it is 
daily the means of sending to the public. 
All which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven. 
Worcester, May 20th, 1842. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, 1842 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
at Antiquarian Hall in Worcester on Monday, the 24th day of 
October, A. D., 1842. 

His Excellency John Davis, Vice-President, in the chair. 

The Report of the Treasurer was read — Whereupon 

Voted, That same be committed to Isaac Davis and Stephen 
Salisbury, Esq., for examination and report to the Council. 

The Librarian read his semi-annual Report. 

The Report of the Council to the Society was read, where- 
upon 

Voted, That the several reports be placed on file and that 
the Committee of Publication publish such parts thereof as 
they may deem proper. 

Voted, To ballot for the election of Rev. William Cogswell 
of Dartmouth College as a member, he having been nominated 
by the Council — and he was unanimously elected. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the ensuing 
year. 

Voted, To choose a committee to report a list for election, 
and that such committee be nominated by the Chair. Chose, 
Stephen Salisbury and Isaac Davis, Esq., who reported: 



Meeting of October 24, 1B42 431 

For President 
Hon. Edward Everett. 

For Vice-Presidents 

His Exc'y John Davis. 
Hon. Joseph Story 

For Recording Secretary 
Hon. Rejoice Newton. 

For Foreign Corresponding Secretary. 
Hon. John Pickering. 

For Domestic Corresponding Secretary 
Benjamin F. Thomas, Esq. 

Treasurer 
Sam'l Jennison, Esq. 

For Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Samuel N. Burnside, Esq. 
DocT. John Green. 
Benj. F. Thomas, Esq. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Emory Washburn, Esq. 

For Committee of Publication 

DocT. John Park. 
William Lincoln, Esq . 
Alfred D. Foster, Esq. 

All of whom were elected to the several offices for which 
they were recommended. 

Voted, That this meeting be dissolved. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the Antiquarian Society respectfully sub- 
mit their annual Report. 

Although designed to cherish antiquarian associations and 
encourage antiquarian research, this Society since its last 



432 American Antiquarian Society 

report has not wholly escaped the effect of modern influences. 
While the busy capitalists of the day have found their ac- 
cumulations diminished and their new acquisitions arrested 
or curtailed, this Association have to lament that their drafts 
in favor of Literature and Science have been honored only to 
a Umited extent. Still they have cause to congratulate them- 
selves that though no brilUant success has crowned their 
efforts, a steady and healthy growth has evinced the increasing 
usefulness and respectability of the Institution under their 
charge. 

The Treasurer, with his accustomed promptness and ac- 
curacy, has presented a detailed statement of the funds of the 
Society, which accompanies this Report and exhibits a balance 
of $26,386.33 now belonging to the Society. 

The Librarian, in his full and able Report of his depart- 
ment of the affairs of the Society, which accompanies this 
Report, has not only given a detailed account of effects, but 
has traced out causes why those effects are less considerable 
than had been anticipated; and all that need be added to the 
analysis which he has presented, is that it should be no cause 
of surprise that fashion has become his rival and antagonist, 
when it is remembered how beautiful a garb Antiquity puts 
on under his ministrations, and how bright under his hand 
every thing becomes which has once been touched with the 
poHshing powder of time. 

With so rich a store of rare and valuable books, and with 
a fund exceeding twenty-six thousand dollars, dedicated by 
the munificence of its donors to the increase and preservation 
of this ahnost priceless treasure, the Society may well con- 
gratulate themselves that they are the honored instrument of 
cultivating a proper taste, and supplying a growing demand, 
for that knowledge which is associated with the men and the 
wants of bygone years. However fearfully the touch of time 
dims the brightness of this world's ordinary possessions, it 
but hallows and sanctifies the choicest treasures of the Anti- 
quary. 

And well would it be for the world if the eyes of the would- 
be-leaders of the age were more frequently turned from the 
false glare which surrounds present objects, to the more 
sober, certain light of the past. The thousand wild schemes 
of fancied reform would lose the brilliant hues which imagina- 
tion throws around them, and give place to the lessons which 
experience teaches through the history of what has been. For 



Meeting of October 24, 1842 433 

in too many of the instances where high wrought hopes have 
failed of fruition, disappointment has already more than once 
taught others the vanity of what so many are so eagerly pur- 
suing. 

Amidst this railroad speed with which everything on the 
face of the earth seems hurrying to a change, while the ear 
is pained with the din and the senses are crazed with the con- 
fusion and bustle of ceaseless commotion, it is delightful to 
have one place where a retreat can be found in calm, dignified 
communion with the great and good of other times. It is 
while associating with these and listening to their lessons of 
wisdom, though often quaint, that one may learn to laugh at 
the folUes around him, and read in the exploded theories and 
nonsense of ancient men, the true value of the pursuits of so 
many of the wise men of modern times. 

If the insane man needs a retreat from the agitating scenes 
that disturb his fancy, in order to be restored to reason, no 
less does the rational man need some refuge from the politics, 
the polemics, the theories of morals, of social duties, and uni- 
versal reform which distract the attention of all modern 
minds, where he can have opportunity to pause for repose, 
and stud}^ his duties as a rational and accountable being. 

And whoever lends his aid in building up or enriching re- 
treats like these whatever may [be] the form they assume does 
a lasting benefit to his own age and to posterity. The ac- 
cumulated stores of knowledge which the American Anti- 
quarian Society enjoy should encourage them to renewed and 
untiring exertion to increase their usefulness. 

The future historian of our country will seek for treasures 
which are stored within the alcoves of this Society and here, 
in the newspapers, the pamphlets and the ephemeral litera- 
ture of the day, the future scholar is to study the intellectual 
character of the leading minds of successive generations. 

Let the importance of this be impressed upon the public 
mind and there would be no occasion to lament any want of 
interest in the success of this Institution. The field from 
which the treasures so much desired for this Society are to be 
gathered is but partially gleaned. Many a choice relic of rev- 
olutionary and ante-revolutionary times lies hid amongst 
the lumber of unexplored garrets, and many a volimie that 
would gladden the eye of the antiquary, is lost to the world 
for want of the means of being brought to light and introduced 
into the society of its own kindred. 



434 American Antiquarian Society 

The Council do not mean to justify burglary or robbery in 
violation of law, but they know no law against appl}dng 
adequate means to accompHsh an end so desirable as to se- 
cure to a venerable and respectable author who has pined 
in solitude for half a century or more, a dignified asylum, 
where, with his compeers and his contemporaries, he can take 
his stand again in society, and again meet the smile of those 
who have learned to know his worth. 

It may have been thought a work of supererogation to urge 
again what has so often been pressed already upon this Society, 
the importance of continued exertions to extend the benefits 
it promises to our own age and those who are to come after 
us. But it hardly seemed proper to pass these over, al- 
though trite and familiar, on an occasion like the present. 

There is danger of forgetting in the feverish excitement of 
the busy, passing hours, the less dazzling, but far more use- 
ful, knowledge which deals with sober realities of the past, 
and it must be the apology of the Council, if one is needed, 
that in presenting their annual Report they have endeavored 
to bear a fitting testimony to the high purposes and worthy 
designs of this honored association. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

Per order.^ 



Treasurer's Report 

Am. Antiq'n Society in accH with S. Jemiison, Treas. {on acc't 
of General Reserved Fund) 
Dr. 

To amount set apart for Librarian's Fund $11,396.00 

To Fund of $5000.00, and int. to May, 1834 6,078 .31 

To amount of expenses to the present time 7,265 . 35 

To notes 1,467 .40 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

To Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

To balance of cash acc't 475 . 49 



$27,482.55 

Cr. 
By amo't rec'd from ex'rs of I. Thomas and from other 

sources to the present time $24,55 1 . 84 

By interest acc't 2,930. 71 



$27,482.55 



^ The committee to prepare the report was Emory Washburn and Samuel 
M. Burnside and the report was written by the former. 



Meeting of October 24, 1842 435 

Am. Antiq'n Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
accH of Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

To Citizens Bank Stock 1,100.00 

To notes 12,512.92 

$14,112.92 

Cr. 

By cash rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

By interest rec'd to Oct. i, 1842, exceeding the Librarian's 

salary 1,935 • 29 

Balance of cash acc't 596 . 13 

Interest rec'd since Oct. i 185 . 50 

$14,112.92 

Am. Antiq'n Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
acc't of Fund of $5,000.00) 
Dr. 

To Worcester Bank Stock $900 . 00 ' 

To notes 7455 . 41 

Bal. of cash acc't 571 . 24 

$8926.65 
Cr. 

By balance on hand Aug 3, 1835 $5928.31 

By interest received to this time < . . . . 2998 . 34 

$8926.65 

Balance of Reserved Fund $2,742 . 89 

Balance of Fund of $12,000 13,516.79 

Balance of Fund of $5000 8,926 . 65 

$25,186.33 

Estate in Middlebury 600 . 00 

Mortgages due in Maine 600 . 00 

$26,386.33 
Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 
October 17, 1842. 

Worcester, Oct. 25, 1842, we the subscribers having ex- 
amined the above account find it correctly stated as indicated 
by the books of the Treasurer. We have also looked at the 
securities and as a general thing find them well secured. 
There are some exceptions to this remark, which the Treasurer 
proposes to attend to. 

Isaac Davis 

Stephen Salisbury 



I Committee. 



436 American Antiquarian Society 

Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society. 

The Librarian respectfully submits his second semi-annual 
Report of the year 1842. 

The interval since the last meeting of the Society has not 
been very productive of accessions to its Library. This may 
be the result of accident, or because the Librarian has had 
fewer opportunities than usual of collecting from abroad, or 
because the public disposition has been less liberal. If less 
has been done in the way of accumulation than at some former 
periods, the other purposes of the Society, viz., to impart in- 
formation, and gratify the curiosity of the community in 
matters of antiquity and literature, have been by no means 
diminished in their exercise, nor has any abatement of interest 
on the part of the public been observed. Although the spirit 
of antiquarian research and collection is said to have 
declined somewhat in Europe, it is certainly on the increase 
in this country. There is more of private inquiry, and much 
more of private collection, connected with this subject, at 
the present moment in the United States, than any previous 
time has manifested. The local celebrations of historical 
eras, that have been so numerous within a few years, have had 
an influence in creating an antiquarian taste. Centennial 
addresses, and the compilation of town annals, have shaken 
the dust from village records, brought out family memorials 
from their hiding places, and by opening to each community 
a partial view of its own history, have excited a curiosity to 
know more, and given a new interest and value to such relics 
as time has spared. 

One result of local researches and the narration of local 
events, introducing the names of persons associated with 
them, has been to stimulate very much the study of ancestral 
history; so that unusual attention is now directed to tracing 
family descent and connection, and to the construction of 
genealogical trees. Li addition to this, fashion has taken up 
antiquity, and brought into vogue whatever the changes of 
time have rendered quaint and curious. Old pictures, old 
furniture, old plate, and even old books, which have hereto- 
fore suffered neglect, and enjoyed but a musty reputation, as 
uncongenial to the go-a-head habits of our people, are now 
sought with eagerness as necessary adjuncts of style and the 
most cherished ornaments of the drawing-room. 



Meeting of October 24, 1842 437 

There might naturally be expected from this state of things 
a general increase of interest in the objects of an institution 
like ours; and such is evidently the effect, so far at least as 
to attract public curiosity to our collections; but another 
consequence has followed in its temporary influence somiewhat 
less desirable. Numerous rival collectors have sprung up, 
whose exertions tend to divert from their appropriate place 
of deposit those relics of olden time which it is the aim of 
this institution to secure for use and preservation. The 
disposition to transfer to our custody aught that is old and 
rare, is sensibly affected by the estimation these have ac- 
quired in the circles of fashion. 

It is noticeable that our possessions are quite as much 
coveted as admired, by those who visit our halls; and the 
private ownership of an ancient document or article, is an- 
nounced less frequently with the intent of donation, than for 
the purpose of comparison or self gratulation. Gentlemen 
of fortune are not only importing antique furniture for their 
mansions, and paying high prices for all they can gather near 
home, but are proud to exhibit an ancient volume of MSS. 
though with less regard of the nature of its contents than to 
the external circumstances of its history or origin. Thus, 
while the fancy endures, we shall be likely to be deprived of 
many things that would otherwise be committed to our keep- 
ing. 

Nor is the prevaihng taste for collecting confined to an- 
tiquities. A like impulse has been given to the preservation 
of autographs, coins, pamphlets, manuscripts, particular 
classes of works, and other matters; and a large number of 
instances where young men and women are engaged in such 
pursuits, has fallen within the notice of the librarian during 
the past season. These facts, which at first view would seem 
to interfere materially with the o ;jects of this institution, 
may ultimately enure to its advantage. This institution 
is permanent, while popular fancies are transient and fluctuat- 
ing. The cacoethes colligendi may cause the preservation 
of nany valuable materials of history that would otherwise 
have been suffered to perish. As the interest of the pursuit 
ceases with the decline of its novelty, these may be expected 
to find their way into public archives, and the Antiquarian 
Library will doubtless receive its appropriate share. 

The daily visitors to our rooms have been very numerous 
during the summer; and a more discerning interest than 



438 American Antiquarian Society 

usual seems to have been manifested in the pecuHarities of 
our collections. It is somewhat difi&cult to preserve the 
proper distinction between the true nature of this institution, 
as one of a Uterary character, intended for scientific uses and 
the gratification of enlightened curiosity, and a mere museum 
of articles for idle and unprofitable inspection. Yet both the 
dignity and the real utility of the institution require that 
this should be done; while at the same time, the opportunity 
of free and constant access on the part of the public should 
be liberally afforded. 

It is for its advantage, as well as in conformity to its pur- 
poses, to have its collections known to the community, and 
open to general examination; and although this privilege is 
liable to abuse, the inconveniences attending it must be got 
along with as they best can. The just medium between too 
great restriction and too little restraint, requires the constant 
exercise of judgment and discretion, and its attainment im- 
poses no very easy task upon the Librarian. 

The ordinary duties of affording facilities of research with 
aid and information to literary enquirers, are nearly sufficient 
to employ the attention of one person. The Librarian has 
held himself entirely at the service of such requisitions, and 
has bestowed such attention upon all his visitors as could 
well be rendered without assistance. He has endeavored to 
meet all demands upon his time and his courtesy, in the best 
manner that their constant occurrence and varied nature 
would permit, and to maintain the good order and safe keeping 
of the collections, amid the exposure to derangement and in- 
jury to which they are necessarily subject. 

The roof of the building is now apparently secure from 
leakage, and the dampness of the cellar has been materially 
diminished. Yet the books are still to some extent affected by 
mould and moisture, derived from a wet soil and the natural 
influence of changes of temperature in a brick building with- 
out fires. This difficulty, however,, is less noticeable than 
formerly, and as the mould does not often penetrate be- 
yond the exterior of a volume, it is frequently dried by the 
dust that accumulates after sweeping, and can be removed 
with a cloth or a brush. 

The task of labelling the volumes and entering their lo- 
cation in the Catalogue, which was in a great measure com- 
pleted by the aid of an assistant the preceding summer, has 
been to some extent carefully revised, and alterations and 



Meeting of October 24, 1842 439 

corrections made where they were deemed requisite. The 
general arrangement of the Library is simple and perhaps 
sufficiently distinct for consultation. The miscellaneous 
pamphlets have been brought together in one room and the 
legislative and legal documents in another. 

The Mather Ubrary occupies its own alcoves, and on the 
same side of the room have been placed other ancient volumes 
and works of a religious or theological nature. Ancient al- 
manacs and registers remain where they have always been, 
located, in the same range, and below them are to be found 
works on the British peerage and baronetage with a collec- 
tion of British directories and county histories. 

The Bentley donations are by themselves. There is then 
an alcove of belles lettres, hterature, another of scientific 
works, another of medical books, and another of elementary 
and classical publications. There is not an entire separation 
of subjects in each alcove, but works of a similar class may be 
found not far apart in that portion of the Library. The 
newspaper room contains at one end our principal works re- 
lating to American history. The half of one side is filled with 
periodicals and the other half contains voyages and travels, 
gazetteers, and descriptive works that were chiefly placed 
there by the former Librarian. 

The great number of pamphlets in our collections, while 
it swells our catalogue to a size larger than that of libraries 
much more extensive, renders the matter of reference more 
difficult and laborious. When the catalogue was originally 
formed, many loose pamphlets were entered which, by some 
accident, were afterwards mingled with the mass of duplicates 
and waste tracts. These, as they have been missed upon 
examination, have been sought by. overhauling, again and 
again, the entire mass of dupHcates, and many have thus been 
restored to their places. All such labors in the Library have 
necessarily to be accomplished at intervals and odd moments, 
unless the doors are closed against visitors, or someone found 
to receive them in the Librarian's room. 

The number of bound volumes presented since the last 
meeting is thirty-five, nearly all of them works of utility and 
value. The trustees of Obadiah Brown's benevolent fund 
have deposited six handsomely bound works, relating to the 
principles and history of the denomination of Quakers. The 
Rev. Alex'r Young has presented, with his own " Chronicles of 
the Pilgrims," four ancient works of intrinsic value and three 



440 American Antiquarian Society 

modern publications. Hon. Charles Hudson sent from Wash- 
ington the late census in four volumes, besides many con- 
gressional papers. Rev. Mr. Field, of Charlemont, and Asa 
H. Waters, Esq., of Millbury, have each presented an an- 
tique volume. Among the residue are historical works of 
importance and interest, a history of the United States in 
French, and a copy of Madam de Genlis' Moral Discourses 
were given by Mons. Pelletier, a teacher of French in this 
town. 

The only parcels of pamphlets received have been from Dr. 
Porter of Plainfield. These have chiefly consisted of cata- 
logues of institutions and reports of societies. The Friend of 
Peace, complete in four volumes, was immediately transferred 
to the binder. In almost every other instance the pamphlets 
have been received singly, or a few at a time, from different 
individuals. The whole number is 140, exclusive of series 
of connected publications, that have since been bound into 
volumes. Among the newspapers presented are several files of 
the New Hampshire Sentinel from Charles G. Prentiss, Esq., 
and two of the Peoria Register, from Hon. Theron Metcalf. 

His Excellency John Davis, and Col. Pliny Merrick, have 
each informed the Librarian that they have a collection of 
pamphlets and papers at the service of the Society, although 
they are not yet quite ready to be transferred. It may be 
well enough to mention, in this connection, that Robert 
Means, Esq., of Lowell, a few weeks before his sudden death, 
had promised to deposit in the Library a curious work, of an 
older date than any now upon our shelves. 

The additions to the cabinet have been larger than usual. 
No less than thirty-one articles, occupying three large boxes, 
have been presented by Dr. Usher Parsons of Providence. 
Two other parcels of curiosities have been received from other 
individuals. 

Since the preparation of this Report, eight antiquated 
volumes have been brought in by Rev. Seth Chandler of 
Shirley. One of them is rare and valuable. It is a black- 
letter copy in 4to of Lanquet's Epitome of Chronicles, with 
a continuation to the time of Queen EUzabeth, by Cooper 
and Crowly, both distinguished scholars in their day, printed 
in 1565. As Mr. Chandler is a collector, he claimed a quid 
pro quo for this volume, and was satisfied to accept of duplicate 
election and convention sermons in exchange. A bargain 
upon such terms was accordingly effected. The book is 



Meeting of May ji, 1843 441 

described in Watts, but does not appear upon any of the 
catalogues of American libraries in our possession. It is 
therefore rare, in this country, if not eleswhere. 

[Not signed.] 

MEETING OF MAY 31, 1843 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held at 
the Tremont House, in Boston, May 31, 1843. 

Rev. Doct. Charles Lowell in the Chair. 

The Report of the Council was read, also the Report of 
the Treasurer, also the Report of the Librarian. 

Voted, That the foregoing Reports be accepted and referred 
to the Committee of PubHcation — they to report to the Council 
what parts thereof ought to be pubUshed. 

Hon. John Pickering, Foreign Corresponding Secretary, 
communicated a letter from Henry Ledyard, Consul at Paris, 
giving information of having forwarded to the Society several 
copies of the Proceedings of "Institut Historique de France" 
also a letter from M. Renzi, Secretary of "Institut Historique 
de France" — Also a communication from Thomas Carew 
Hunt, British Consul at the Azores, giving an account of the 
mounds and forts in Ireland.^ 

Voted, To refer the before mentioned papers to the Com- 
mittee of Publication. 

Voted, That the proceedings at the annual meetings of the 
Society shall hereafter be printed under the direction of the 
Committee of Publication, together with an abstract of 
the reports, and such other matter as the Committee shall 
deem advisable.^ 

Voted, To proceed to ballot for members of the Society. 

Chose, Charles Sumner, Esq., Boston. 

Peleg W. Chandler, Esq., Boston. 
John P. Bigelow, Esq., Boston. 
Professor Romeo Elton, Providence. 
DocT. Usher Parsons, Providence. 

Voted to dissolve this meeting. 

Att,, Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 

^ An abstract of Mr. Hunt's communication is given in the printed Pro- 
ceedings described in the next note. 

* In accordance with this vote, the proceedings of the meetings in May, 
1843 ^iid October 1843, with abstracts from the reports and lists of donations, 
were separately printed, being numbered vol. i, nos. i and 2. Although it was 
evidently the intention to continue the series in this form, only the two numbers 
were issued, and no further proceedings were printed until October, 1849. 



442 American Antiquarian Society 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society re- 
spectfully submit their first semi-annual Report for the year 
of 1843. 

The finances of the Society are fully explained in the Report 
of the Treasurer herewith submitted. The amount of the 
fimds and property of the Society in his hands on the twelfth 
day of May A. D. 1843, was twenty-five thousand nine hundred 
and nineteen dollars and sixty-six cents, showing an increase 
since the seventeenth day of October, 1842, of five hundred 
and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents. This Re- 
port has been examined by a committee of the Council and 
the investments found to be well and securely made. 

The mmiber of books added to the Library since the last 
report is one himdred and twenty-two, and the number of 
the pamphlets is six hundred and ninety-six. The character 
of these additions and the principal sources from which they 
have been derived will be found detailed in the report of the 
Librarian herewith submitted. 

The books and collections of the Society were found upon 
examination by the Coimcil to be in good order and well 
preserved. 

The Society is quietly yet successfully accomplishing the 
object of its institution, every year brings new gifts to its 
stores, and time, which wastes and scatters other treasures, 
but adds new value to ours. 

Per order of the Council, 

Benj. F. Thomas. 



Report of Committee of Council 

The committee appointed by the Coimcil of the American 
Antiquarian Society to examine the state of the library, 
having attended to that duty, respectfully report: 

That they repaired to the Antiquarian Hall and passed 
through its various apartments, making as careful an examina- 
tion as could be made, without actually taking each volume 
from its place. They found the collections of books and 
curiosities belonging to the Society, in a good state of preserva- 
tion, and in such a condition as indicated a proper care and 
attention by the Librarian to the duties of his ofiice. 



Meeting of May ji, 184J 443 

By inspection they perceived that several volumes of books 
were missing, and requested the Librarian to furnish them 
with a complete list of all such missing volimies, which he 
accordingly did, and his statement forms a part of this report. 

The missing volumes are in fact of no great value, and being, 
as they are, mostly odd volumes of works, there is reason to 
beheve they may have been taken for some temporary pur- 
pose, by individuals who may discover the mistake they made 
in originally taking them, and their still greater neglect of 
duty in not returning them, and that they may yet be returned 
to the Library. 

For a collection as large and valuable as that of the Anti- 
quarian Society, and necessarily exposed as it is by being 
open to the numerous visitors who resort to it from motives 
of curiosity or research, it certainly indicates a good degree 
of care, that no greater losses than are here enumerated should 
have happened, during a series of years as long as that in 
which these volumes have been abstracted from the alcoves of 
the Library. 

The condition of the Library may well be a subject of con- 
gratulation to those who feel an interest in the prosperity 
of the Institution. 

E. Washburn, Ch'man. 
May 27, 1843. 

The volumes which appear to be missing from the Antiq. 
Soc'y Library are as follows : 

Female Worthies vol. ist 
Charlotte & Werter vol. 2nd 
Female Foundling vol. ist 
Lovers of Vendee vol. 2nd 
Shakespear's Works vol. 3rd 
Cowper's Poems vols, ist & 2nd 

These must have been absent a long time. 

Littell's Museum vols. 18 & 19 Alcove 18, Shelf 7. 

Mass. Hist. Collections, 3rd Series, vol. 8, Alcove 21, Shelf 7. 

Pamphlets, No. 456. 

Note. There is another set of Shakespear in the Library and there is 
another copy of Littell's Museum in Mr. Lincoln's library which he presented 
to the Society some time since on the condition that it should be bound. 



ove 


II> 


Shelf 


2. 


u 




" 


3- 


(( 




(( 


3- 


(( 




a 


4- 


u 




" 


4- 


u 




u 


6. 



444 American Antiquarian Society 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. AnAq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
acc't of Residuary Fund) 
Dr. 
For amount set apart May 1831, to constitute the Libra- 
rian's Fund $11,396.00 

For amount set apart in 1835 to constitute Fund of $5000, 

with int 6078.31 

For amount paid for expenses to May 1843 7419. 76 

To notes 1467 . 40 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

To Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash in Worcester Bank 364 . 20 

$27,525.67 

Cr. 
By cash of executors of Isaiah Thomas, and rec'd from other 

sources, exclusive of int $24,551 .84 

By amo't of interest received 2973 . ^^ 

$27,525.67 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
accH of Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 00 

To Citizens' Bank Stock 1 100. 00 

To notes 11 ,666 . 00 

Cash in Bank 276 . 92 

$13,542.92 
Cr. 

By amount rec'd May 1831 $11,396.00 

By int. rec'd exceeding the Librarian's salary 2146 . 93 

$13,542.92 

The Am. Antiq. Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. {on 
acc't of Fund of $5,000) 
Dr. 

To Worcester Bank Stock $900 . 00 

Notes 7803 . 61 

Cash in Wor. Bank 441 . 53 

$9145.14 
Cr. 

By balance Augt. 3, 1835 $5928.31 

By interest received 3216.83 

$9145.14 



Meeting of May ji, 184J 445 

Amount of the funds and property of the Society 

Balance of Reserved Fund $2631 . 60 

Balance of Librarian's Fund 13,542 . 92 

Balance of Fund for Research and Purchase of Books 9145 . 14 

$25,319.66 

Middlebury estate 800 . 00 

Mortgages in Maine, estimated 800 . 00 

$26,919.66 

Expenses paid since Oct. 1842 

S. F. Haven, Esq., acc't for expenses $24 . 74 

For insurance 20 . cx) 

Tower & Raymond, carpenter's bill 13 • i? 

D. Chase's for restoring oil paintings 25 .00 

H. H. Chamberlin Co., for carpeting 37 .00 

M. Barnes for coal 4 • SO 

For Treasurer's compensation 30 . 00 

$154.41 

Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 
May 12, 1843. 

Librarian's Report 

To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society. The 
Librarian respectfully presents his first semi-annual Report 
of the year 1843. 

The accumulations since last October have been quite equal 
to those which former reports have exhibited as occurring in 
similar periods of time. The number of books, of all sorts, 
added to the Hbrary, is one hundred and thirty-two; and the 
number of pamphlets, of every description, six hundred and 
ninety-six. 

It has been usual, wliile presenting to the Council a state- 
ment of accessions, to give a more particular description of 
their character. They are accordingly divided into classes 
not intended to be very minute or exact (a thing difficult to 
accomplish in a satisfactory maimer with miscellaneous pub- 
lications) but sufficiently distinct perhaps for the purpose in 
view. 

Of the volumes, 10 are statistical, 32 relate to the arts and 
sciences, 27 belong to jurisprudence, government or politics, 
25 are theological or ethical, 19 belong to the department of 



446 American Antiquarian Society 

belles lettres, and 14 are historical. Three volumes of ancient 
account books, and a bound volume of newspapers complete 
the number. Of the pamphlets, 156 are statistical, 17 relate 
to the arts and sciences, 61 belong to jurisprudence, govern- 
ment or pontics, 339 are theological or ethical, 64 belong to 
the department of belles lettres, 14 are historical, and 45 are 
not classified. 

There have also been added to the collections eight engrav- 
ings, two cabinet articles, a handsome antique chair,^ and 
files of the following newspapers: the Boston Tri-weekly 
Courier, the Hampshire Gazette, the New York Churchman, 
the weekly Boston Courier, the Peoria Register, the semi- 
weekly Boston Advertiser, the Christian Register, the semi- 
weekly Boston Atlas, the Farmer's Monthly \'^isitor, the 
Worcester Spy, and the Worcester ^gis. Some of these 
papers are received periodically, as are the following maga- 
zines: the Merchant's Magazine, the Spirit of Missions, the 
Quarterly Register, and the Millennial Harbinger. 

Although a proportion of the books and pamphlets enu- 
merated might seem upon inspection to be of little intrinsic 
importance, yet many of them are of value, and all are proper 
subjects of preservation. Among the books are twenty-two 
volumes of public documents, five volumes of Transactions 
from the Statistical Society of Paris, one from the Geographi- 
cal Society of Paris, three from the American Philosophical 
Society, one from the Georgia Historical Society, the. last 
edition of Bancroft's History of the United States, from the 
author, three valuable historical volumes from George Folsom, 
Esq., of New York, two of his own productions from Dr. Cox 
of New York, three elegantly bound books from Mr. A. H. 
Maltby of New Haven, which are also beautiful specimens of 
American typography, and a large antique foHo from the late 
Robert Means, Esq., of Lowell, bearing the comprehensive 
title of "Treasurie of Auncient and Moderne Times, being 
the Learned Collections, Judicious Readings, and Memorable 
Observations, not only Divine, Morall, and Philosophicall, 
but also Poeticall, Martiall, Politicall, Historicall, Astrologi- 
call, &c., translated out of that worthy Spanish Gentleman, 
Pedro Mexia, and M. Francesco Sansovino, that famous 
ItaUan, as also Sundry Honorable Frenchmen," London 1619. 
Antiquated grammars, dictionaries, and elementary treat- 



as 



^ In the list of donations, as printed in the Report of 1843, this is described 
"An antique mahogany chair, with a wroujjht seat, from Mrs. E. D. Bangs." 



Meeting of May ji, 184J 447 

ises, which exhibit the venerable aspect of age and experience, 
if not the wisdom, are among the additions; and those com- 
pact quartos of old divinity, which many people are wilKng 
to spare from their grandfathers' libraries, yet which may at 
some time regain their influence and authority, are not with- 
out their usual representation. 

Many of the pamphlets, it will be seen, are statistical. A 
large portion are theological or ethical; some of these are 
periodical, others belong to a series. An equal number, 
perhaps, are of an occasional or controversial character. The 
constant application made at our Library for reference to 
transient and fugitive publications, of every description, 
which have been sought elsewhere in vain, shows how little 
care is generally taken for their preservation, and illustrates 
the importance of saving from destruction even the humblest 
production. 

Quite an extensive donation of pamphlets and newspapers 
was made by Rev. Mr. Hill of Worcester, and a considerable 
number were received from B. F. Thomas, Esq., of Worcester; 
other members of the Society at home and abroad have made 
occasional contributions. 

Several gentlemen in Worcester, Dr. Park, S. M. Burnside, 
Esq., Rev. Mr. Hill, William Lincoln, Esq., and Maturin L. 
Fisher, Esq., have taken some pains to preserve files of news- 
papers for the Library; and a portion of the additions in this 
department have been derived from them. Mr. James 
Swords of New York contributes regularly in the same way. 
The Boston Courier, the Hampshire Gazette, the Farmers' 
Monthly Visitor and the Worcester Spy are sent by their 
respective editors. 

The engravings are all portraits of distinguished persons. 
Six of them were presented by Mr. John Weiss of Worcester, 
who brought them from Germany. Mr. Weiss was also the 
medium through whom the Transactions of the Statistical 
Society of Paris were received, and the president and founder 
of that institution, Caesar Moreau, forwarded by the same 
hand to this Society a large lithographic hkeness of himself, 
with a memoir of his Hfe. The collection of engraved heads 
in the library of the Antiquarian Society, has become so 
extensive as to constitute an important portion of its treasures. 
It is well worthy of a special and particular notice, which, 
on another occasion, may be given to it. 

The cabinet articles, are an Indian implement of stone. 



448 American Antiquarian Society 

found in Sterling, and a box "made from the wood of Presi- 
dent Edwards' elm tree;" the latter from J. D. Whiting of 
Northampton. 

Having presented as particular an account of the number 
and nature of recent accessions as the design of these reports 
will justify, the Librarian has little further to add. The 
ordinary duties of his office have been similar to those of past 
periods, the details of which do not require repetition. These 
duties have not been less active or varied than usual, nor have 
they been called into exercise less frequently. 

There has been but one instance of leakage in the library 
building during the winter, and that was occasioned by 
sudden melting of the snow upon the roof during a violent 
rain. In this particular the building continues in good con- 
dition. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1843 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Antiquarian Hall, in Worcester, on Monday, October 23d, 

1843- 

Hon. John Davis, Vice-president, in the Chair. 

Hon. John Davis read to the Society an Address. 

Voted, That the Publishing Committee be directed to 
publish a sufficient number of copies of the Address of the 
Hon. John Daxds to supply each member of the Society with 
a copy, and a suitable number to be retained by the Society. 

The Report of the Council to the Society was read. 

The Report of the Librarian was read. 

The Report of the Treasurer was presented, and com- 
mitted to Thomas Kinnicutt, Esq., and Alfred D. Foster, 
Esq., to be by them audited. 

The Report of the Council was accepted. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the ensuing 
year. 

Voted, To choose a committee to nominate a list of candi- 
dates for office. Chose, Hon. Levi Lincoln, Doct. Samuel 
B. Woodward, Charles Sumner, Esq. 

Voted, That the Publishing Committee be directed to pub- 
lish the account of the proceedings of the Society at this 



Meeting of October 2j, 1843 449 

meeting, and abstracts of the reports in connection with the 
address of Gov. Davis.^ 

The committee to nominate a list of candidates for office, 
reported as 

President 
Hon. Edward Everett, LL.D. 

Vice-Presidents 

Hon. John Daves, LL.D. 
Hon. Joseph Story, LL.D. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
John Green, M.D. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Hon. Emory Washburn. 
Stephen Salisbury, Esq. 

Secretaries 

Hon. John Pickering, LL.D., Foreign Correspo)idence. 
Benjamin F. Thomas, Esq., Domestic Correspotidence. 

Treasurer 
Hon. Alfred D. Foster." 

Committee vf Publication 

Charles Sumner, Esq. 
Stephen Salisbury, Esq. 
Samuel F. Haven, Esq. 

And they were all chosen. 

Voted, That the Librarian be requested to prepare and 
transmit an answer to the communication of Thomas Carew 
Hunt, Esq., presented to the Society at their last meeting. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Secretary. 

1 This pamphlet issue of Proceedings for October, 1843, numbered vol. i, 
No. 2, included the record of the meeting, an abstract of the reports, the ad- 
dress of Hon. John Davis, and a Hst of donations. 

2 According to the printed Proceedings, "it was announced that Samuel 
Jennison, Esq., whose faithful and valuable services, as Treasurer of the Insti- 
tution for the last fourteen years, the Council and the Society have had con- 
tinual occasions to notice with gratitude, declined a reelection to that office." 



45© American Antiquarian Society 

Address by Hon. John Davis 

Gentlemen: — Recent events have brought to our recol- 
lection occurrences which it seems proper to notice before we 
proceed to the business of this meeting. 

This association has been incorporated thirty-one years, and 
in the hands of wise, able, and efhcient benefactors, has ac- 
quired strength, firmness, and character, which promise to 
make it an institution of great and lasting usefulness. The 
library contains about 14,000 volumes, exclusive of several 
thousands deposited in the hall that belong to others. While 
we cannot claim for this collection, which is derived almost 
entirely from the benevolence of donors, the high character 
which often belongs to great selections made with care, into 
which nothing that is not esteemed for its intrinsic merit is 
permitted to enter, yet we find from experience, that our 
books are much visited by scholars, and often afford informa- 
tion which it is difficult, if not impossible, to find elsewhere. 
In this way we have constant proofs of the growing usefulness 
of the institution, and its increasing importance in the estima- 
tion of the learned and the curious. But you will learn the 
state of our affairs in a satisfactory manner from the reports 
which will be submitted. 

Beginning as we did, with almost nothing, we dwell with 
grateful recollection upon the fact, that the distinguished 
munificence of the late Isaiah Thomas, who was emphatically 
the founder of the association, gave to it, not only vitality, 
but the strength and ability to make itself respectable and 
useful. His unwearied diligence, and his bounty, which is 
destined to live for ages to come, will at all times be regarded 
by this society as the offspring of a generous and noble spirit, 
striving to rescue from the general decay and waste of the 
past, whatever might be useful, entertaining, or curious, in 
subsequent ages. Peace to his ashes! The pursuit was 
worthy of a comprehensive, benevolent, and sagacious mind. 
This hall and this library will endure as monuments of his 
memory long after the granite tomb in which his remains 
rest shall have fallen into decay. 

Associated with him from the beginning, as a friend, as an 
efficient, learned co-laborer, and as an oflicer of this corpora- 
tion, who shared largely in its labors and councils, was the 
late Doctor Bancroft; a gentleman distinguished alike for 



Meeting of October 2j, 184J 451 

clear, comprehensive, and accurate views of subjects. His 
learning, zeal, and wisdom, all contributed to sustain the in- 
stitution, and to reflect credit upon its character and trans- 
actions, when it had little to rely upon except the promise 
of future usefulness. His steady and constant support en- 
titles his memory to be cherished with the veneration and 
respect due to one whose purity of life, wisdom, and exemplary 
deportment, left his honored name without reproach. 

Among our early and steady friends, we may number an- 
other distinguished for his love of antiquarian research, and 
his able and friendly support. The late Lt. Gov. Winthrop 
proved himself on all occasions a firm, steadfast, sincere, and 
able friend. As far as was in his power, he let no opportunity 
escape him to promote our interests and prosperity. His 
benevolence and his labors were active, efiicient, and untiring. 
He, too, has gone down to the tomb, leaving a void at our 
board which we shall long feel and deplore. 

To the learning, the wisdom and benevolence, of these 
patriarchs of our association, we owe much of the distinction 
which we enjoy. In their example of untiring perseverance, — 
in their love of historic truth, — in their zeal for the advance- 
ment of knowledge, they so much excelled, that it will be 
praise which may well satisfy an ordinary ambition to equal 
their merits. 

While the original pillars of our edifice have, one after 
another, been falhng by the common lot of humanity, and 
are thus identified with the past only, leaving the fabric to 
be upheld by others, we have had occasion also to deplore 
other bereavements not less afflictive in their character. 

The death of our late Librarian was noticed in the last 
volume of our transactions, in which we bore testimony to the 
singular merits of that exceUent officer, and expressed our 
deep regret at his sudden, untimely death. All who knew 
him, and enjoyed his friendship, felt deeply and sincerely the 
loss of one so amiable, so learned, and so enthusiastically 
devoted to the best interests of our association. The shock 
was the greater, and our disappointment the more painful, 
because death snatched from us one in the prime of manhood, 
who gave promise of a long and useful life, which had been 
freely and voluntarily consecrated to our service. These 
considerations are the more forcibly impressed upon our 
minds, as, since our last semi-annual meeting, we have lost 
another member by death, whose face we have been accus- 



452 American Antiquarian Society 

tomed to see on these occasions, and who has almost uniformly, 
for a series of years, given us, in one form or another, the fruits 
of his gifted mind. William Lincoln, with whom, in our 
joint labors, we have been so long and so intimately associated, 
that he seemed like a brother, will meet us no more in these 
mansions of earth. After a brief but painful sickness he sank 
into the arms of death, and his remains now repose in the Rural 
Cemetery, in the spot selected and prepared by him for their 
reception. He was, as we all know, in the meridian of life - — 
in the midst of the age of usefulness — when mental and 
physical vigor combine to give the strength and courage, 
which carry men forward in their career with the greatest 
power and success. The silvery tones of that harmonious 
voice, to which we have often hstened with profit and delight, 
are now hushed in the silence of the grave. He will be no 
more among us to council us with his wisdom, or to lighten 
our toils by his labor. But we shall not — we cannot for- 
get him, for he has been a friend, sure and steadfast, from the 
day when he became a member to the close of his life; and 
such a friend — so active — so disinterested — so generous — 
so faithful, and so indefatigable in promoting our prosperity, it 
has seldom fallen to the lot of any public charity to possess. 
His merits as a member of this body were so great, that it 
seemed to me unbecoming in us to permit this occasion to pass 
without some expression of our gratitude for his services and 
liberality, and some manifestation of our sorrow, at the loss 
of one who must be numbered among our most enlightened, 
efficient, and able supporters. 

This is not the time to do justice to the character or fame 
of one, who in so brief a life, and in the midst of professional 
labors, accomplished so much; but I may, I trust, be permitted 
to glance at some of the leading traits of his history. 

Mr. Lincoln was the son of the late Levi Lincoln of Worces- 
ter, who, in his time, was an eminent advocate at the bar, 
greatly distinguished among his cotemporaries for his eloquence, 
and for the various offices of high trust and confidence which 
he enjoyed. WilKam was the son of his old age, and growing 
up after the father had relinquished public business, he was 
chiefly educated under his immediate care and instruction, 
until he was prepared to enter College. Gov. Lincoln, like 
many others who have cultivated a taste for the classics, 
found in them a most agreeable refuge, when other more urgent 
demands upon his time ceased to engage his attention. Al- 



Meeting of October 2j, 1843 453 

though his eyesight was greatly impaired, he was able, with 
the help of the large print of folio editions, to read the Latin, 
and probably the Greek writers. To this love of letters was 
William indebted for so able and gifted a teacher, while pass- 
ing through his preparatory studies. At this early period 
of his career, he was distinguished am.ong boys of his age for 
the extent of his acquisitions, as well as for the maturity of 
his intellect. On one occasion, while a lad, he was selected 
to deliver an address on the 4th of July, before his companions, 
and acquitted himself in a maimer that would have done credit 
to riper years. 

In 1820, he entered the junior class in Harvard University, 
and was graduated in 1822, when he entered upon the study 
of the law, and was admitted to the practice in 1825. He 
commenced and continued business in Worcester, until he 
died; and although, as his friends well know, the law was not 
a favorite pursuit, and often gave place to a higher and stronger 
taste for Hterature, yet in all his engagements, he acquitted 
himself in a manner which proved that he was not deficient 
in legal learning, and possessed that clear and accurate dis- 
crimination, which is the basis of success in the profession. 
He, however, engaged in the practise of the law, not so much 
from incHnation, as from the conviction, that a regular and 
reputable employment of some kind, is necessary to every 
man, who would gain the esteem and confidence of the public. 

Mr. Lincoln's habits of industry, and his merits, attracted 
attention and speedily brought him forward as a young man 
of great promise. Becoming connected with the press, and 
the periodicals of the day, he soon established a high reputa- 
tion as a writer, both of prose and verse. The vein of good 
humor in which he often indulged, and which imparted a 
raciness to many of his fugitive productions, estabhshed for 
him the reputation of a wit, as well as that of a scholar. 

In 1825, moved chiefly by his great love of historical research, 
he, in coimection with our late lamented Librarian, estabhshed 
a periodical, called "The Worcester Magazine, and Historical 
Journal," in which, as a leading object, they intended, if prac- 
ticable, to pubUsh an outUne of the history of the coimty of 
Worcester, and also a history of each of the towns. This work 
was continued until two octavos, of about four hundred pages 
each, were issued from the press, when it was reUnquished for 
the want of patronage. It contains a history of the county, 
from the pen of the late Isaac Goodwin, Esq., and the histories 



454 American Antiquarian Society 

of eight towns, from the pens of as many authors, some of 
which are executed with signal abiHty. Their plan was, by 
these local histories, "to place on permanent record, the rehcs 
fast fading from memory," that the material for general his- 
tory might thus be preserved. They were among the early 
and successful patrons of this branch of Kterature, and per- 
haps did more than any others to excite public attention to 
its importance, and to call into existence the numerous and 
valuable histories of towns which have since appeared. 

While the Magazine had great merits as an historical work, 
it was by no means deficient in other entertaining and in- 
structive matter, and was, on the whole, a work highly credit- 
able to its industrious and learned Editors. 

At this time Mr. Lincoln commenced, probably with a view 
to its publication in the Magazine, a history of the town of 
Worcester — but this work, which was upon his hands for 
several years, appeared, in 1837, in an octavo of about 400 
pages. It is executed with great ability throughout, and de- 
manded a patient toil, a laborious investigation, which merit 
a fame greater than so limited a history can confer. 

One, who has no practical acquaintance with this kind of 
investigation, can form no just conception of the toil necessary 
to sift out the truth from the confused reminiscences of early 
history, and to place in chronological order such incidents and 
occurrences as are worth preserving. The writer of this ar- 
ticle entertains no doubt, that Mr. Lincoln spent weeks in 
attempting to form a map of the town, from the ancient sur- 
veys of the farms and tracts of land, as recorded in the pro- 
prietors' books, but owing to the imperfection of the surveys 
and of the record, the labor was wasted. With a similar 
diligence and scrutiny, he examined every possible source of 
history, sparing no labor or expense in investigating town, 
county, state, and proprietors' records, the ancient files of the 
provincial and colonial governments, and the papers of private 
individuals, together with all printed matter which had the 
remotest tendency to elucidate the subject. Nothing was 
left to conjecture — nothing in uncertainty, but with a fidelity 
that is seldom surpassed, he registered only such facts as 
were sustained by satisfactory evidence of their truth. 

This is the great merit of Mr. Lincoln as a historian and an 
antiquarian, that his perceptions of truth were seldom blinded 
by a credulous, indiscriminate respect, for reminiscences and 
traditions. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1843 455 

While he was thus apparently absorbed in literary and pro- 
fessional pursuits, his active mind was not indifferent to pub- 
lic affairs, or to the interests of the town which he was often 
chosen to represent in the Legislature. The various, compli- 
cated, and important duties assigned to him in that body, and 
elsewhere, sufficiently attest the respect which was entertained 
for him. 

In 1837, the Legislature authorized the Governor to pro- 
cure the publication of the journals of each provincial congress 
of Massachusetts, and of such papers connected with those 
records, as would illustrate the patriotic exertions of the people 
of the state in the revolutionary contest; and the Governor 
appointed Mr. Lincoln to make the selection and to superin- 
tend the pubhcation. This work, which resulted in a volume 
of 778 pages, could not have been confided to a more able or 
judicious compiler. The book itself, which is a most valuable 
relic of a period in the revolutionary struggle of an absorbing 
interest, contains the most ample proofs of vast labor and 
research. While engaged in the discharge of this duty, he 
collected from the records of towns, and other authentic 
sources, a great mass of papers and documents relating to the 
war, and the causes of the war, of the Revolution, which it 
is earnestly to be hoped will not be lost to the public. In- 
deed it is from these, and like sources, that a history of the 
Revolution must be written, before the world can understand 
how a people few in number, feeble in resources, without 
military organization, and destitute both of revenue and the 
material of war, beat down the power of Great Britain, and 
estabhshed for themselves independence. When this comes 
to be understood, we shall learn, that the sacrifices and suffer- 
ings of those who staid at home, were in no respect less in- 
tense, or less patriotic, than those endured in the army. This 
book is a good beginning, but it should be followed up, till 
justice is done to the character of Massachusetts. 

Although these topics necessarily blend themselves with the 
name and fame of the deceased, yet they must be passed over, 
as we have stood in a nearer relation to him, which demands 
notice. 

In 1825, he became a member of this Society, and from that 
time, till near the period of his death, it is not easy to describe 
the value and importance of his services, or the extent of his 
benevolence. He served us in the capacity of Librarian, 
Corresponding Secretary, and, after the Foreign and Domestic 



456 American Antiquarian Society 

Correspondence were separated, as Secretary of Domestic 
Correspondence, and as a member of the Committee of Pub- 
lication. In all these stations he discharged the duties as- 
signed to him, which were often laborious, in a manner so 
honorable to himself, and so useful to the Society, as to con- 
fer upon it an obligation of gratitude which can never be 
cancelled. If the Society had been a pet child, it could scarcely 
have commanded more of his attention, or shared more of his 
sympathy and regard. Into whatever spot you enter within 
our territory, there you find multiplied proofs of his friend- 
ship, his benevolence, his taste, and of his personal labors. 
We, who have sat at this board with him, can bear testimony, 
that, in advancing our prosperity, no labor or personal sacrifice 
restrained his ardor or abated his zeal. His time, his mental 
energies, and often his pecuniary resources, were expended to 
embelKsh the grounds, to increase and make m.ore valuable 
the library, and to raise the association to that elevated 
rank among similar institutions, which it has been our laudable 
ambition to attain. Of these varied, great, and long-continued 
efforts to give lustre to the character of this Society, I hardly 
dare speak in the simplest language of truth, lest I should 
subject myself to the im.putation of extravagance. But no 
law of prudence forbids that we should be grateful, or denies 
to us the right to express our sorrow at the loss of so dis- 
tinguished a benefactor, or to cherish his memory with hal- 
lowed feelings of respect. Few men possess the learning or the 
ability to accomplish as much as has been done by Mr. Lincoln, 
and among the many able and distinguished persons who 
have honored and adorned this Society, with perhaps but one 
exception, he stands out in bold relief, surpassing all others 
in his benevolence and assiduity. When the grave closes 
over one so gifted in intellect, so endowed mth shining 
qualities, if the heart is not touched with sorrow at the bereave- 
ment, it must be insensible to aU sympathy. It has been the 
lot of the writer to enjoy the intimate acquaintance and friend- 
ship of Mr. Lincoln for many years, and it is grateful to his 
feelings to bear testimony to his amiable character, to his 
unbending integrity, to his strong attachment to principle, 
and to his many and distinguished virtues. To have faults, 
however, is the lot of humanity; to overlook and forget them 
is the purest exercise of Christian benevolence. They be- 
long to our imperfect, decaying nature, and let them with it 
drop into the grave. 



Meeting of October 2j, 184J 457 

Report of the Council 

Although in this annual Report to the American Anti- 
quarian Society, the Council are not permitted to present 
any striking or glowing picture of the progress which the 
Society has made since their last Report was made, they 
can, nevertheless, congratulate its members that the character 
of the Institution has been fully sustained. 

The Librarian's Report, which accompanies this conmiunica- 
tion, as well as the statement of the Treasurer which is also an- 
nexed, as well as the examination of committees of the Coimcil 
into the subjects of their reports, give renewed evidence of 
the faithfulness and ability of those officers, and the pros- 
perous condition of the fiscal concerns of the Society, as well 
as of their now almost invaluable library. 

With an available fund of more than $27,000, and a col- 
lection of books already numbering sixteen thousand volumes, 
it is not arrogating undue importance to the Institution to 
claim for it the capacity of great good, as well as the power 
of exerting a salutary influence upon the public mind. To be 
properly appreciated, it should be better known. Its true 
aims and objects should be better understood. Its rich stores 
of accumulated knowledge would thereby cease, in a great 
measure, to be regarded in the light of a curious museum of 
strange things, while the scholar, the statesman and the 
historian would resort to them as a treasure of the highest 
value. 

In some respects this Society has not done justice to itself. 
The few publications it has given to the world have been an 
earnest of what the public had a right to expect from the 
known industry and ability of many whose names are enrolled 
among its members, but the intervals at which these have 
appeared have been so great that whatever interest may have 
been excited by the one, has been suffered to subside before 
another publication has been issued from the press. While 
other cotemporary associations, of a kindred character, have 
kept the public attention awake by the publication of original 
treatises and essays or curious and obsolete works of merit, 
this Society has for the most part been content to pursue the 
even tenor of its way, accumulating for others' use and silently, 
though steadily supplying a desideratum in American litera- 
ture which can nowhere else be so adequately furnished. 



458 American Antiquarian Society 

That with such means it has been able to accomplish so much 
is strong evidence that greater individual exertions would be 
crowned with proportionate success. 

The plan adopted at the last semi-annual meeting of the 
Society, of publishing the Reports of the Council and of the 
proceedings of the meeting — if followed by similar publica- 
tions hereafter — cannot fail to accomplish much good. They 
bring the existence and purposes of the Society directly be- 
fore the public mind and awaken an interest in its pursuits. 
And if at these stated meetings of the Society, papers prepared 
by competent individuals were to be read and published with 
these reports of its proceedings, the utility and importance 
of the American Antiquarian Society would soon be more 
fully appreciated than many have been led to suppose it 
now is, among the literary and scientific associations of our 
country. 

Although the appropriate duty of the Council on this oc- 
casion is to present to the Society a statement of the condition 
of the library, funds and other property of the institution, 
it is hoped that these suggestions as to the uses and objects 
to which these treasures may be applied, will not be deemed 
inappropriate or obtrusive. They do in this but reiterate 
the well known views of its most valued friends, while they 
would awaken in the minds of all its members a desire to 
emulate the zeal and faithful services of those who have left 
us the influence of their example, with the grateful recollec- 
tion of their personal worth, together with their devotion to 
the cause in which we are engaged. 

One of these devoted friends and faithful laborers in this 
cause has been taken from our midst since the last semi- 
annual meeting, in the vigor of manhood, and the Society will 
long have occasion to regret his loss as a scholar of high attain- 
ments, a valuable citizen and a prominent member of this as- 
sociation. But the pleasant duty of noticing, as it deserves, 
the character and services of their lamented associate, has been 
confided to one of their number, every way competent to 
do justice to the memory of one who was so lately amongst 
us, the pleasant companion and the honored antiquary. 
In behalf of the committee, 

Emory Washburn. 
October, 1843. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1843 459 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antig'n Society in accH with S. Jennison, Treas. 

(General or Reserved Fund) 

Dr. 
To balance being amo't expended over the sum originally 

rec'd $294 . 00 

To notes, secured by mortgages and otherwise 1242 .40 

To Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

To Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash on hand 720 . 36 

$3056.76 
Cr. 

By interest received $3056 . 76 

Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. 

(Librarian's Fund) 
Dr. 

To Bank Stock (Blackstone) $500.00 

" Citizens Bank Stock 1,100.00 

" Notes secured by mortgages, &c 11,066.06 

Cash on hand 939 . 56 

$13,605.62 
Cr. 

By amo't rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

Int. rec'd after paying the salary of the Librarian to Oct. i , 

1843 2,159.99 

Interest rec'd since Oct. i 49 • 63 

$13,605.62 

Am. Antiq. Society in acc't with S. Jennison, Treas. (Fund 
of $5,000, for purchase of books and general research) 

Dr. 

To Worcester Bank Stock $900 . 00 

Notes secured by mortgages, &c 8868 . 88 

$9768.88 

Cr. 

By balance of Aug. 1835 $5928.31 

Interest received 3432 . 25 

Cash acc't (due the Treasurer) 408.32 

$9768.88 



460 American Antiquarian Society 

Amo't of Reserved or General Fund $3056 . 76 

Amo't of Librarian's Fund 13,605 . 62 

Balance of Fund of $5000.00 9310. 56 

$26,022.94 

Middlebury Estate 700 . 00 

Mortgages in Maine (estimated) 600 . 00 



October 13, 1843. 



$27,322.94 
Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 



Librarian's Report 

To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian presents his second semi-annual Report of 
the year 1843. 

If the usefulness of the Listitution, and the interest excited 
in its objects, may be measured by the number of persons 
who frequent its halls in search of information or to gratify 
curiosity, the value and utility of this society are perceptibly 
increasing with each succeeding year. During the past sum- 
mer numerous visitors have been permitted to examine its 
collections; many individuals have successfully pursued 
therein investigations of public or private advantage; and 
some have prosecuted, almost daily, studies of a literary or 
scientific character among its volumes. 

The donations received since the last meeting of the Society, 
consist of ninety-one volimies, sixty-three pamphlets, one 
small parcel of Mss., and a quantity of unbound newspapers, 
not always forming perfect files, yet affording valuable ma- 
terials for continuing the series in that important department 
of the Librar}^ 

According to a notice from the Department of State at 
Washington, there are eighteen volumes of public documents 
now on their way to this Institution. These, when received, 
will make the aggregate of volmnes to be one hundred and 
eighteen, which compared with the smaller number of pam- 
phlets, causes our additions to exhibit a preponderance of the 
larger class of works quite imusual. As the Society has adop- 
ted the plan of printing a list of donations and accessions, 
in connection with an account of proceedings at the semi- 
armual meetings, the particular description of the character 



Meeting of October 23, 1843 461 

of these additions, which has usually been given in the Report 
of the Librarian, need not be continued.^ 

It will be found that some publication has been received 
from ahnost every Society with which this association is in 
habits of correspondence, or interchange of productions. 
The regular journal, etc., of the Royal Geographical Society 
of London is wanting, but this is probably contained in a 
package, from London, directed, evidently by mistake, to the 
Antiquarian Society, Philadelphia, which is now in possession 
of the American Philosophical Society, and is held subject 
to our order. Four unbound 4to volumes, and two 4to pam- 
phlets, in German, being the scientific productions of the 
Royal Bavarian Academy of Science, at Munchen, came to 
hand imaccompanied by any communication showing by 
whom they were sent or from whom they came. It is sug- 
gested whether it may not be safe to assume that they are 
the gift of that learned association, and advisable to forward 
the publications of this Society in return. 

The preparation of newspapers, pamphlets, and series of 
periodicals for the binder has been continued, as usual, and 
some valuable additions to the shelves have been made in 
that maimer. The accomodations in the newspaper room 
will require to be enlarged and improved, if it is considered 
desirable that the papers should be kept together in a situation 
favorable for ready consultation. 

By a vote of the Society at its last meeting, the reports and 
communications which were then read, together with the rec- 
ord of the proceedings of the meeting, were referred to the 
Committee of Publication, to be printed in such manner and 
in such portions as they should deem advisable. The action 
of that committee having been interrupted by the illness of 
the only one of the number who had been willing to serve, the 
completion of the duty devolved at a late period on the 
Librarian. The printing had already been commenced, and 
as long delay had occurred, it seemed necessary to proceed at 
once without farther detention. Under other circumstances, 
a more full notice of communications, with such appropriate 
remarks as their nature required would have been added. It 
is beheved that hereafter these periodical publications will 
prove a very convenient and profitable medium of communica- 
tion between the Society, and its members, and the public. 

1 The detailed list of donations is printed in the Proceedings of October, 
1843. 



462 American Antiquarian Society 

The recent lamented death of an officer of this Institution, 
whose services have been long in duration and of an eminently 
useful character, is to be more appropriately noticed before 
the Society; yet the Librarian cannot refrain from expressing 
his private sense of that active interest in its affairs which the 
late William Lincoln, Esq., has ever manifested. The duties 
of the Librarian, and the relation he sustains to the Society, 
necessarily afford him a better opportunity of estimating 
services that are rendered, than even the Council themselves 
can possess. It is therefore not less a serious duty than a 
melancholy pleasure for him to acknowledge the benefits 
which the Society has derived from its deceased associate; 
while the proper tribute to this memory is left to another and 
more competent source. He will therefore simply remark, 
that as a benefactor to the Institution, Mr. Lincoln, has been 
constant in his donations — that these have been varied in 
their nature and liberal in extent; and that the evidences he 
has exhibited in his life, and left behind him at his death, of 
zeal and capacity as an antiquary, and of deep and practical 
regard for the purposes of this association, are such as probably 
no member has exceeded, save its founder and principal 
benefactor. No one has been more alert than he to gather 
up whatever is appropriate to its designs, or to stimulate 
the generosity of others in its behalf. Our Hbrary, our cabinet, 
our edifice, our grounds, all attest the personal labor and 
attention he has bestowed on their improvement. His ser- 
vices cannot but be permanently remembered, and their loss 
be long and sensibly felt. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven. 
Oct. 1843. 



MEETING OF MAY 29, 1844 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society holden 
at Tremont House in Boston on Wednesday, May 29, A. D., 
1844. 

In the absence of the President and Vice-Presidents, Hon. 
John Pickering was called to the Chair. 

The Report of the Council to the Society, the Report of the 
Treasurer, and the Report of the Librarian were read. 

Voted, That the Reports of the Council and of the Librarian 



Meeting of May 2g, 1844 463 

be accepted and placed on file, and that the Report of the 
Treasurer be referred to Thomas Kinnicutt and Samuel 
Jennison, Esqs., for them to audit and make report to the 
Council. 

Voted, To proceed to the admission of members, 

Mark Anthony Lower, Esq., of Lewes, Sussex, England. 

Theron Metcalf, Esq., Boston. 

Dr. Samuel G. Morton, Philadelphia. 

Hon. Charles Hudson, Westminster, Mass. 

having been recommended by the Council, were severally 
balloted for and admittted. 

Voted, That the Council be requested to make such ar- 
rangements for having dissertations read at the meetings 
of the Society as they may think proper and find practicable. 

Voted, That the Committee of PubHcation be requested to 
take measures to publish the first volume of the Records 
of the Massachusetts General Court, and that the Council 
be authorized to defray the expense of the same. 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Report of the Council 

To the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Council, in compHance with the requirements of the 
by-laws, make this their semi-annual Report to the Society 
of the situation of the Ubrary and cabinet, the state of the 
funds, and the amount of the investments. 

It will be seen, by the statements of the Librarian, that al- 
though our progress appears to moderate, yet that we are 
regularly accomplishing the objects of our Institution, that 
the accumulation of books and other evidences of prosperity 
are nearly the same as in preceding years, and that our Hall is 
in a fair state of repair. Owing to the location of the building 
upon very wet grounds, and a restriction in the deed of gift 
by Mr. Thomas, prohibiting the use of fire in the rooms, 
containing the library, our books have been much exposed 
to injury by dampness, and great care has been requisite 
to prevent their serious injury. To remedy this evil it will 
probably be found necessary to erect a furnace in the cellar, 



464 American Antiquarian Society 

by which hot air may be thrown into all the rooms as oc- 
casions may require. This mode would probably be found 
more economical than any other which would be sure to pro- 
duce the desired effect, 

A committee appointed by the Council to examine the 
Library, report that the books are well arranged and in a good 
state of preservation. 

The Treasurer's Report shows that our present cash funds, 
most of which are well invested, producing an income, amount 
to $26,492.42, and that our expenses, during the last six 
months, exclusive of the salary of the Librarian, have been 
only $87.20, thus exhibiting an accumulation above the 
original capital of about $3,000. This state of the treasury 
raises the question whether we are carrying out the intentions 
of the donors of the funds, or fulfilling the just claims of the 
community. Were they given to us to be kept folded in a 
napkin, or did we, by accepting them, engage to use them in 
connection with our own labor, for the gratification of society 
and improvements in science? This Society has been organ- 
ized under an act of incorporation thirty- two years, and has 
published only two volumes of Transactions and a Catalogue 
of its library. It is now about eight years since the publica- 
tion of its second volume. The first volume was published 
when we had no funds and its expenses were principally de- 
frayed by its then President, who was always ready to do any- 
thing for the honor or interest of this much cherished object 
of his regard. Finding a large mass of books, pamphlets 
and newspapers in an unsuitable state for preservation, 
which had been accumulating while we had no funds, we have 
been obliged, as our income would permit, to incur heavy 
expenses for binding. Those expenses, except such as future 
additions may occasionally require, are now nearly at an end, 
and we now have the pecuniary means of publishing a volume 
without contribution and without encroaching upon the 
principal of our funds, and the Council are of the opinion that 
another volimie ought to be published so soon as suitable 
materials can be collected. 

This subject suggests another, which the Council take the 
liberty of proposing for the consideration of the Society. 
It is well known, that a practice prevails in most of the lead- 
ing historical societies in Europe, and in some of those in this 
country, of having dissertations read at their meetings upon 
subjects connected with the objects of their respective so- 



Meeting of May 2g, 1844 465 

cieties. Such practice with us would add much to the in- 
terest of our meetings, and would impart valuable information 
to the members, most of whom have not the leisure, if they 
had the means, for patient and protracted investigations. 
And besides, this course might and probably would be pro- 
ductive of some papers suitable for publication in our future 
volumes. The Society might rely upon the voluntary con- 
tributions of its members, or it might be m^de the duty of the 
Council or some other officers to see that a proper number of 
members should prepare themselves for each meeting. 

All which is respectfully submitted.^ 
In Council, May 27, 1844, Voted, That the foregoing be 
adopted as the Report of the Council, to be presented to the 
Society at their meeting to be held in Boston on Wednesday, 
the 29th inst. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Treasurers' Report 

The American Antiquarian Society in account with A. D. 
Foster, TreasW. On account of General, or Residuary Fund. 

Dr. 

For notes $goo . 00 

Oxford bank stock 400 . 00 

Worcester bank stock 400 . 00 

For expenses paid *. 87 . 20 

For cash on hand 1 171 . 41 

For balance 194 . 00 

$3152.61 
Cr. 
By amount of interest received to the present time $3 152. 61 

Am. Antiq'n Society in accH with A. D. Foster, TreasW. On 
acc't of Librarian's Fund. 
Dr. 

To Blackstone bank stock $500. 00 

Citizens bank stock 1 100 . 00 

To notes 9470 . 00 

Cash on hand 2635 . 53 

$13,705-53 

^ The committee appointed by the Council to prepare this Report consisted 
of Benjamin F. Thomas and Stephen Salisbury, and it was written by the former. 



466 American Antiquarian Society 

Cr. 

By am't of sd. Fund rec'd May 1831 $11,396.00 

By income rec'd exceeding the salary of Librarian to April i, 

1844 2,230. 25 

By interest rec'd since Apr. i 79-28 

$13,705-53 

Am. Antiq'n Society in accH with A. D. Foster, Treas'r. On 
acc't of Fund of $5,000.00. 
Dr. 

To Worcester bank stock $900 . 00 

Shawmut b'k stock 2345 .00 

To notes 6280 . 00 

Cash on hand 109 . 28 

$9634.28 
Cr. 

By am't of said fund Aug. 3, 1835 $5928 .31 

By interest rec'd to this time 3705 • 97 

$9634.28 

Fund — Residuary $3,152 .61 

Librarian's 13,705 • 53 

$5000 9,634 . 28 

$26,492.42 
E. E., A. D. Foster, 

Treas'r A. A. S. 
May 13, 1844. 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, held at 
the Tremont House, Boston, May 29, 1844. 

Voted, That the above report be submitted to Thomas Kin- 
nicutt and Samuel Jennison, Esqs., for them to audit and 
make report to the Council. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Sec'y. 

Worcester, August 13, 1844. 
The subscribers have examined the written account and com- 
pared it with the securities and vouchers, and find the same 
to be correctly stated and properly vouched. 

Thos. Kinnicutt 

S. Jennison 



■ Meeting of May 2g, 1844 467 

Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The building of the Society has remained in tolerably 
good condition during the winter. But few instances of 
leakage have occurred in the roof ; and those have been slight 
(resulting only from an accumulation of snow) and hardly 
appearing in the ceiling. The natural dampness of the loca- 
tion has also apparently affected the books somewhat less 
than usual, owing, perhaps, to greater steadiness of tempera- 
ture in the season. Much care and attention have, however, 
been requisite, to obviate the tendency to mould, to which 
a brick building without fires is always hable, by wiping the 
surface of the books, and admitting the external air when the 
weather was favorable. Still dampness is the great difficulty 
with which we have to contend in the preservation of our col- 
lections, and it can probably be overcome entirely only by the 
application of constant heat, or the erection of a new edifice 
in a drier position. The apartment of the Librarian serves 
sufiiciently well for the convenience of students, more or less 
of whom are in use of the library during all parts of the year, 
and if a moderate quantity of warm air could by some means 
be circulated through the building, without violating the 
restriction of its donor in regard to fires, the immediate wants 
of the Society would be provided for, so far as the accommoda- 
tion and preservation of its collections are concerned. 

The removal of the books of the late Mr. Lincoln, to which 
a room had been appropriated, furnishes a supply of shelves 
and affords additional space, which had begun to be much 
needed. An additional glazed case for cabinet articles, 
which has lately been obtained, completes the necessary 
provision for present accumulations. 

The accessions, since the meeting of the Society in October, 
consist of 120 volumes and 768 pamphlets; besides unbound 
newspapers, maps and engravings, and a few reHcs of the 
men and fashions of other times. 

Some of the pamphlets are duplicates, but many are new 
and valuable. An entire set of Niles' Register is an important 
donation from Hon. John W. Lincoln of this town. Other 
works might be named, but as the list of donations will be 
printed and distributed to the Society a particular reference to 



468 American Antiquarian Society 

these is unnecessary.^ There are two, however, which deserve 
to be especially noticed. These are the publications of mem- 
bers of this Society abroad, who have deemed that member- 
ship as prominent among their claims to public confidence, 
or as according more peculiarly with the antiquarian character 
of their works. 

I refer to Finlay's History of Greece under the Romans; 
and to the collection of unpublished Greek inscriptions and 
other antiquities since the enfranchisement of Greece; by 
A. R. Rangabd. Both of these authors at the period of 
their nomination to this Society, by the late president. Gov. 
Winthrop, were engaged in the researches of which we now 
receive the fruits and they have manifested their sense of the 
compHment, not only in the title-pages of their works, but 
by an early transmission of their valuable productions to the 
Society. 

The receipt of these results of antiquarian taste and labor 
from foreign members, suggests a circumstance that is worthy 
of mention and consideration. While the researches that are 
daily advancing among the historical remains of the older 
world are continually brought to our shelves, our library 
is unhappily deficient in the later works of American writers 
upon the history and antiquities of our own continent. The 
explorations of Stevens and others in Central and Southern 
America; the physiological speculations of Dr. Morton; the 
elaborate essay of Bradford; and the recent works of Mr. 
Prescott, have none of them yet found their way to our collec- 
tions. And a considerable list might be formed of works 
peculiarly American, and peculiarly antiquarian, of which 
this Society ought to be possessed, and is not. The manner 
in which the present unsuitable vacancy shall be filled, and 
a similar one prevented for the future, in a Library already 
sufficiently respectable to attract much pubhc attention, 
is a subject which it may be more expedient to bring before 
the Society than to have disposed of by the Council at their 
private meetings. Though many of these publications are 
not costly, yet a considerable expense would be involved in 
their direct purchase, and, unless some other means of pro- 
curing them existed, would require a special and discriminat- 
ing appropriation for the purpose. 

^ The list was not printed. Evidently the Society found the project of 
publishing a new volume of Transactions a sufficient source of prospective 
expense, without incurring the additional charge of printing the Proceedings. 



Meeting of May zg, 1844 469 

An account of certain antiquities in the Island of Sacra- 
ficios, communicated to the Society of Antiquaries in England 
by Captain Nepeau, in a letter to the Earl of Aberdeen, with 
a report upon their examination, by Samuel Birch, Esq., 
has been received from London without any indication of the 
source from whence it came. The following publication, the 
title of which I translate, came from the Royal University of 
Halle, by the hand of an American gentleman,^ without any 
written address to this Society: "New communication from 
the Department of Historico- Antiquarian Research, in the 
name of the Royal University of Halle, Wittemburg, connected 
with the Thuringian-Saxon Association for investigating the 
antiquities of the Fatherland, and prescribing its monuments, 
published by the Secretary R. E. Fostermann, 6th vol., 4th 
part, with six lithographs." Halle, 1843. 

A small box of coins found in the earth in Norway and in 
the name of the University of Norway directed to the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society^ Cambridge, by a gentleman whose 
autograph I cannot satisfactorily decipher, fell into possession 
of President Quincy of Harvard College, and was by him 
transmitted to Worcester. The letter accompanying the 
box refers to a treatise "De prisca re numaria Norvejia" 
which the writer had previously sent to the Society, but 
which has not been received. A notice was sent by the Post- 
master at Cambridge, a year or two since, stating that a 
package was in that office directed to the Antiquarian Society, 
Cambridge, with a postage of nine or ten dollars which, on 
consultation with the Postmaster in relation to its contents, 
and a fruitless application to the Postmaster- General for a 
remission of postage, it was not deemed advisable for the 
Society to claim. This package undoubtedly contained the 
Treatise referred to. It remains for the Society to deter- 
mine in what manner a return shall be made for these favors. 

As applications frequently occur for the copies of the Cata- 
logue and Transactions of the Society, it has been deemed 
proper to ascertain and report the number of these volumes 
now on hand, that the Society may know the precise extent 
of its means in this particular. Of the ist volume of Trans- 
actions there are 166 copies; of the 2nd volume 211 copies; 
and of the Catalogue 64 copies bound, and a very considerable 
number in sheets, which have not been counted. These may 
therefore still be used with some liberality in exchange Avith 

^ Lyman Colman of Munson. 



470 American Antiquarian Society 

other societies, or in promoting the general purposes of the 
Institution. The price put upon them by a vote of the 
Council some time since is $1.50 each for the Catalogue and 
ist volume of Transactions, and $2.00 for the 2nd volume of 
Transactions. The Librarian was authorized to use a Kmited 
number of copies as he might deem expedient for the interest 
of the Society; but, except in a few cases he has not acted 
without a direct vote of the Council. One or two Catalogues 
have been exchanged with other libraries. The ist volume 
of Transactions has in one instance been given for other books, 
and one copy has been sent abroad. Both the Catalogue 
and the Transactions have also been lately forwarded to the 
newly formed Historical Society of Maryland, in compHance 
with a request on their part for interchange and correspon- 
dence. These are all the cases where the volumes have been 
disposed of by the Librarian without special direction, unless 
to purchasers. 

Among the maps and plans in the Library are two plans 
of the battle of Lake George on the 8th of Sept., 1755, one by 
Samuel Blodget, engraved in England, the other engraved by 
Thomas Johnston of Boston. They were both drawn im- 
mediately after the battle, and are said to be of great rarity. 
An application was made by Mr. Henry Stevens, Jr., of Cam- 
bridge, for permission to have an engraving made from these 
for a work he is about to publish ; and he has been allowed the 
use of them accordingly. One of them has been returned. 
The other still remains in his possession. Mr, Stevens says 
he has been unable to meet with these plans elsewhere, and 
that they are of great historical value, as correcting some 
errors that have crept into later accounts of the engagement. 
A key and description was originally pubUshed with Blodget's 
plan, which we do not possess; and it happens fortunately, 
that Mr. Stevens has obtained this, though without the plan, 
and will place either the original or a manuscript copy in our 
Library. 

Except the plan referred to, and a few volumes of news- 
papers in the hands of Mr. Bancroft, none of the books or 
papers which have been permitted to be carried from town 
remain absent from the Library. 

The question is frequently asked, whether preparations 
are making for any new publication by the Society. The 
last volume of Transactions was issued in 1836 and some token 
of continued existence and operation is much needed, both 



Meeting of October 2j, 1844 471 

to meet the expectations of the public, and to sustain a suitable 
and satisfactory intercourse with kindred associations. This 
deficiency is continually brought to the consciousness of the 
Librarian in the course of his duties, and may therefore be 
properly introduced into a statement of the present condition 
and wants of the Institution, for the consideration of the 
Council and the Society. If the attention of the members is 
directed to the subject it may be the means of developing 
materials for a new work which will warrant the expense of 
publication. 

In writing to our President, Mr. Everett, the Librarian has 
ventured to soHcit inquiries on his part among the British 
archives, for documents appropriate to this purpose, and to 
request that the Society may be favored with some communi- 
cation from him which may give interest to the next occasion 
of its meeting. 

A map of New York with the Indian names of rivers, lakes, 
and places, and their signification, so far as can be ascertained, 
is now being prepared under the auspices of the Historical 
Society of that State. Would not a similar one for Massa- 
chusetts be an object worthy the labor of this Society? The 
design is one that the lapse of time is constantly rendering 
more difiicult to be accomplished, and it may therefore be 
more satisfactorily completed now than at any future time. 
All which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven, Librarian. 
May 27, 1844. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1844 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, at 
Antiquarian Hall in Worcester, Oct. 23, 1844. 

Hon. John Davis, Vice-President, in the chair. 

The semi-annual Report of the Council was presented; 
and having been read and accepted, was referred back to the 
Council, with its accompan}dng documents, the Reports of 
the Treasurer^ and the Librarian, for such disposition as they 
may deem proper. 

Voted, That Hon. Daniel Waldo, and Hon. Isaac Davis 
be a committee to audit the account of the Treasurer. 

Oliver Henry Sherwood, of Toronto, Upper Canada, and 

* The Treasurer's Report is missing from the files. 



472 American Antiquarian Society 

the Earl of Aberdeen, having been recommended by the 
Ccimcil for election as members of the Society, were severally 
balloted for and elected. 

Voted, That Hon. Levi Lincoln, Hon. Thomas Kinnicutt 
and Hon. Isaac Davis be a committee to report a list of officers 
for the ensuing year. 

The following list having been reported by the committee, 
the gentlemen therein named were severally elected to the 
offices therein designated : 

President 
Hon. Edward Everett, LL.D. 

Vice-Presidents 

Hon. John Davis, LL.D. 
Hon. Joseph Story, LL.D. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Benjamin Russell. 
Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
John Green, M.D. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Hon. Emory Washburn. 
Stephen Salisbury, Esq. 

Secretaries 

Hon. John Pickering, LL.D., Foreign Correspondence. 
Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, Domestic Correspondence. 
Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer 
Hon. Alfred D wight Foster. 

Committee of Publication 

Charles Sumner, Esq. 
Stephen Salisbury, Esq. 
Samuel F. Haven, Esq. 

Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Att., Sam'l F. Haven, Rec. Sec. pro tern. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1844 473 

Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society, pursuant 
to the by-laws thereof, present the following as their second 
semi-annual Report for the year 1844, of the general condi- 
tion of the Society. 

The primary objects of interest relate to their funds, their 
halls, their library and cabinet, and the progress they have 
made in pursuit of the important ends of their institution. 
The Report of the Treasurer, which accompanies this, fur- 
nishes an exhibit of all that is desirable to be known on the 
first of these topics. 

From this, it is seen, that the Society have a Residuary 
Fund of $3217.66 applicable to any general purposes; also a 
fund of $13,834.47 resulting from a legacy of $12,000, originally 
limited in part by the beneficent founder of the Society to 
the support of a Librarian and cabinet-keeper, after meeting 
all the demands upon it in the execution of this trust; and 
another fund of $10,032.28, arising from a legacy of the 
founder of $5,000, partly designed for special purposes, — 
making the aggregate resources of the Society $27,084.41, 
exclusive of a tenement in Middleb rough, Vt., of uncertain 
value, but believed to be worth less than $600. Some small 
incidental expenses, not yet ascertained, may be chargeable 
upon the treasury, but not of sufficient amount to vary 
materially this statement. The legacy of $5,000, here re- 
ferred to, was chargeable with such expenses as might be in- 
curred, in the discretion of the Council, in exploring mounds, 
caverns, subterranean excavations, and other remarkable 
physical appearances in the western section of our country, 
such as might tend to illustrate its early history and natural 
condition. The inquiries of this nature which have hitherto 
been deemed expedient, have involved but little expense, and 
the fund has therefore been left to increase, till it has more 
than doubled its original amount. 

The Report of the Librarian, to which the Council also 
refer, made with the usual fulness and accuracy of that able 
and devoted officer, contains all that the Council have oc- 
casion to say in regard to the condition of the building and 
the Library of the Society. 

A recent examination by a committee of their own has 
satisfied them of the correctness of the statements in that 
Report, and that the books, newspapers, cabinet, and other 



474 American Antiquarian Society 

moveable property in the halls, are in their proper places, and 
in good condition. Soon after the last meeting of the Society, 
the Council took measures to cause to be published the first 
records of the Massachusetts Colony, embracing all their 
proceedings, both in England and America, from 1620 to 1642. 
These records have never yet been given to the public, but 
are preserved in the office of the Secretary of State, Charles 
Simmer, Esq. A member of the Publishing Committee ob- 
tained permission of the Secretary to make a copy of them, 
with a view of bringing the subject to the notice of the Legis- 
lature, and of obtaining a resolve authorising their publica- 
tion, either by the government or by this Society, on such 
terms as might be deemed reasonable. The long protracted 
sickness of Mr. Sumner has retarded the operations of the 
Council in relation to this subject, but its great importance 
will insure their future attention to the accomphshment of 
an object so desirable. The Council remark in conclusion, 
that the general condition of the Society is satisfactory and 
encouraging; that it is steadily advancing in its course of 
usefulness. If its progress be slow, it is nevertheless beHeved 
to be sure, and that the members have reason to flatter them- 
selves that their united persevering efforts will secure much 
good to their country and the world. 

On behalf of the Council, 

S. M. BURNSIDE. 

Worcester, October 23, 1844. 



Librarian's Report 

The periodical statements of the Librarian to the Council, 
being intended less for their particular information, than as 
a general summary of matters and proceedings connected 
with the duties of his office, necessarily embrace facts famil- 
iar to them, as well as those which may not have come to 
their knowledge. 

The building of the Society, which was carefully repaired 
a few years since, has continued in tolerably sound condition. 
Within a few weeks, however, a serious leakage has occurred 
in one portion of the roof, and a less important breach in 
another place. These have been examined and it is believed 
that they can be remedied without much difficulty or expense. 
No change has been made in the arrangements of the interior. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1844 475 

although some slight improvements may be deemed advisable. 
The room formerly devoted to the Hbrary of the late Mr. 
Lincoln having been vacated by the removal of his books, an 
opportmiity is afforded for certain arrangements that have 
long been needed. The accommodations of the newspaper 
room are curtailed by the necessity of using a portion of the 
space for other books. If these were transferred to the va- 
cant apartment, not only would they be better situated, 
but shelves might be provided for newspapers, maps and 
charts, such as are seriously required; and the entire room be 
devoted to that specific purpose. We have now no appropriate 
place for maps and charts that are not spread upon the walls. 
But comparatively few can be disposed of in that manner; 
and as many are too large to be enclosed in covers, either 
shelves of sufficient length, or suitable stands, are much wanted 
for their accommodation. The vacant room referred to is 
one of the best in the building, and it is desirable to have it 
filled. It is also desirable to make space in the newspaper 
apartment for a table in the centre on which those heavy 
volumes may be placed when consulted. These repairs and 
alterations are all that seem absolutely necessary in the edifice, 
and are the only circumstances connected with its condition 
that require to be reported. 

The increase to the collections, within the five months that 
have elapsed since the last meeting of the Society, consists 
of 935 volumes, 119 pamphlets, 15 maps and charts, one 
interesting relic, and the newspapers regularly sent to the 
Society. 

Of the books, 512 volumes are from the library of the late 
Mr. Lincoln, obtained by purchase, in accordance with a 
vote of the Council; 290 were presented by Mr. Charles 
Paine of this town; 88 were received in exchange for dupli- 
cate pamphlets and volumes; 18 are public documents from 
Congress; 10 valuable pubhcations, of which 4 are included 
among the pamphlets, came from the President of the Society, 
Hon. Edward Everett; the rest were derived from various 
sources, including an additional volume from the British 
Record Commission, and one from the Royal Geographical 
Society of London. 

Among the charts, are 12 presented by Major James D. 
Graham of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, comprising 
surveys made under his direction in different parts of the 
country. These are large and beautifully executed, and 



476 American Antiquarian Society 

should be pasted upon cloth, and properly mounted to secure 
their safe preservation. There are charts formerly presented 
by the same gentleman, and a considerable number of others 
in the library, requiring the same treatment, to render them 
available for use without injury. If a place shall be provided 
in the newspaper room for articles of this description, they 
will be more accessible and can be better secured from damage. 

The relic, before mentioned, is the marble slab erected in 
1747, at Northampton, to the memory of Rev. David Brain- 
ard, the celebrated apostle to the Indians. This monument, 
having been mutilated by ruthless pilgrims, who have chipped 
away its corners for testimonials of their pious regard, has 
been replaced by another which is better protected. The 
original was forwarded to this Society for safe keeping by 
Mr. Samuel Plant of that town.^ 

The accessions of the past summer vary from those of 
other periods in being composed chiefly of bound volumes. 
It is true that a large portion of these have been derived from 
purchase; but the donations also have been rather in the 
form of books than in that of pamphlets and miscellaneous 
deposits. 

The circumstance that a spirit of private collection has 
become prevalent in the community was alluded to in a 
former Report. It was mentioned as probably diverting 
from their natural course many of those rills of contribution 
which have customarily flowed toward public institutions 
like ours. But its operation has advanced to another point 
which is worthy of notice. Its influence is not merely felt 
upon the sources of accession, but efforts are made to produce 
an effluent current from the institutions themselves. The 
question, ''Have you anything to spare?" formerly of rare 
occurrence except from the agents of sister associations, has 
become quite as common as the inquiry, "Are you disposed 
to receive?" Young men and old are searching in all direc- 
tions for rare and ancient pamphlets, Mss., autographs, and 
anything that will serve to feed the appetite for collection. 
This state of things is not in reality to be regretted by a per- 
manent institution that will survive the temporary fancies of 
the day, and be likely to reap the ultimate advantage of their 
existence. The reversionary interest which a public library 
always has in private accumulations, may be expected to re- 
sult sooner or later in actual possession; and the disposition 

' This slab has been deposited with the Worcester Society of .\ntiquity. 



Meeting of October 23, 1844 477 

to gather and to hoard the literary, historical, and miscel- 
laneous odds and ends of the past and present, may be viewed 
by this Society much as an heir regards the saving and thrifty 
habits of those whose estates he is by and by to enjoy. 

It has been mentioned that a portion of the late additions 
was the lesult of exchange. The Antiquarian Library con- 
tains a large number of duplicate pamphlets, and not a few 
duplicate volumes. Many of them are of hoary or rather 
dusky age, and others have been ripemng for years in the at- 
mosphere of antiquity. A standing purpose of the Council 
has been to use these in the way of exchange for works not 
already on our shelves, which although a very desirable, is a 
somewhat uncertain and dilatory method of disposal. The 
great anxiety prevailing at the present moment for such col- 
lections, and the high prices they have brought at public 
sales, give rise to the suggestion whether it might not be policy 
to put the more valuable pamphlets into cheap covers, and 
to offer the entire mass of dupHcates at auction in the city. 
The cost of binding, substantially and neatly, a single pam- 
phlet, is about 8 cents, and at a late sale in Boston, rare tracts 
like those we possess, in some instances the same, prepared in 
that way, produced several dollars; and all seemed to find 
eager and liberal purchasers. With the money in hand, a 
better and more desirable selection of books could probably 
be procured than is likely to be received in the way of ex- 
change. At all events it may be expedient, by some decisive 
measures, to take advantage of favorable circumstances for 
converting unproductive stock into permanent and useful 
property. 

There are various labors connected with the assortment and 
registration of dupHcates, and other arrangements of the 
library which seem to demand the temporary services of an 
assistant to the Librarian. He has no disposition to exag- 
gerate the nature or extent of his duties, yet may properly 
state that they are constant and multifarious in their charac- 
ter, exacting in the aggregate a devotion of time considerably 
beyond that required by the rules of the Society for atten- 
dance at the Library, and involving an amount of labor 
greatly disproportioned to the allotted compensation. The 
daily business of this institution devolving upon the person 
having the charge and responsibihty of its ordinary concerns, 
is as active, and of as regular recurrence, as that of most 
secular employments, occupying or absorbing time not less 



478 American Antiquarian Society 

effectually, and rendering any extraordinary duties as dif- 
ficult to be accomplished. 

The utility of this institution continues to be manifested 
by the constant resort had to its collections by writers and 
students from all parts of the country. While these have 
been numerous during the summer, the concourse of casual 
visitors has been almost incessant. If the reputation of the 
Society should fail to be widely spread, it will not be from a 
deficiency of witnesses to the extent of its collections, or a 
want of experience of its liberality. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven. 
October, 1844. 

MEETING OF MAY 28, 1845 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society held 
at the Tremont House in Boston, May 28, 1845. 

Hon. James C. Merrill, in the absence of the President and 
Vice-Presidents, was called to the Chair. 

The Reports of the Council to the Society, of the Librarian 
and Treasurer to the Council, were read and accepted and 
referred to the Council. 

Voted, To proceed to vote for the admission of members 
to the Society, who have been recommended by the Council. 

Voted, To admit Professor Mittermaier, Priv}' Counsellor of 
the Grand Duke of Baden, &c., &c., Heidelberg; Leonard 
Woods, Jun. LL.D., President of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, 
Maine; Charles Bonaparte, Prince of Canino and Musignano. 

Voted, To refer the subject of a new plate for diplomas, its 
size and proportions, to the Council.^ 

Voted, To dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society respect- 
fully submit to the Society their semi-armual Report. 
The interests of the institution are in a prosperous state. 

* The Council, on June 25, 1845, voted "that the Librarian and Recording 
Secretarj' be directed to procure a plate to be engraved for diplomas." There 
is no evidence that the plate was procured. 



Meeting of May 28, 1845 479 

The Council cannot boast of rapid advances, but the account 
of the Treasurer will show that the funds are not diminished ; 
and the Report of the Librarian that there has been a grati- 
fying increase in the number of volumes belonging to the 
Library, and that much progress has been made in arranging, 
and entering upon the Catalogue, the pamphlets, bound or 
unbound, which were not previously registered. The Council 
desire to make these documents, from the Librarian and the 
Treasurer, a part of their Report and refer to them as such. 

Although the object of the Society is to preserve every 
thing it can obtain illustrative of the lustory of this, or indeed 
of any other country, its principal value must be in its collec- 
tion of books and pamphlets. To the accumulation, arrange- 
ment and care of these, the attention of the Council and of 
the Librarian is constantly directed, and not without some 
success. 

The addition in the past year of " twelve hundred and sixty- 
five volumes, a great proportion of which are really valuable 
and substantial works," with little or no expense to the 
Society, is good proof that it is held in respect by many friends. 

The scholar only knows the value of good books. The 
antiquarian only can fully appreciate pamphlets and volumes, 
which others would devote to the pastry cook or the trunk 
maker. Both the scholar and the antiquarian have mourned 
over irreparable losses, which such an institution as this would 
have prevented. When it is extensively understood that 
there is a Society, whose object is to preserve all books and 
pamphlets given to it, many will feel a pleasure in presenting 
those which they do not themselves value. They will seek 
to enjoy the cheap gratification of giving pleasure, by that 
which is to them of no other use than waste paper, but which, 
in such a place, may be of inestimable use to some historian 
in fixing a date, or elucidating an obscure transaction. The 
Society is already, extensively and largely, indebted in this 
way, and expects to be still more so. Many valuable docu- 
ments are doubtless still mouldering in garrets yet to be 
opened and explored for our benefit. Authors, too, may 
frequently add to their usefulness and to the chances of fu- 
ture remembrance by depositing copies of their pubUcations 
on our shelves. To those who have done or shall do so, the 
Council and the Society will ever cordially give their thanks. 

It will be long before this Society's library will rival those 
monuments of the wisdom of past generations which are found 



480 American Antiquarian Society 

in Europe or in our own Cambridge. But it would not have 
been reasonable to expect greater success than has been met 
with. Our library, though yet comparatively small, is al- 
ready a most valuable collection, and is much consulted. 
A few years of like prosperity will make it too large for con- 
venient arrangement in the present Antiquarian Hall. In 
fact, this building is not well planned for the objects to which 
it is devoted. And, should some benevolent and far sighted 
person give the means of erecting a building, at the same time 
suitable for the purposes of the Society and a monument to 
his own name, scholars and antiquarians would be laid under 
lasting obUgations to him and the pubUc benefited. 

Individuals have sometimes dreamed that the wants of the 
Society would, at some time, be thus provided for; but the 
Council regret that they know of no grounds upon which they 
can give any assurance to hope it. They would make no 
calculation upon such an event, but go on in the slow and 
sure way, in which the largest estates are generally ac- 
cimiulated, adding honest gains as they come, and sa\"ing 
everything. This is regarded as the way in which the Society 
will be eventually most successful and permanently useful.^ 



Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiq. Society, in acc't with A. D. Foster, Treas. 
General or Residuary Fund 
Dr. 

To notes $2100.00 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash on hand 292 . 16 

Balanced, being amount expended beyond the income 110.39 

$3302.55 
Cr. 
By interest received $3302 . 55 

$3302 . 55 

Librarian's Fund 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

Citizens Bank Stock 1,100 . 00 

Notes 13,050 . 00 

$14,650.00 
1 This report was written by A. D. Foster. 



Meeting of May 28, 1845 481 

Cr. 

By amo't rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

By int. rec'd exceeding salary of Librarian 2,615 . 63 

Balanced 638 . 37 

$14,650.00 

Fund of $§000.00 
Dr. 

To Worcester Bank Stock $goo . 00 

Shawmut Bank Stock 2,345 . 00 

Notes 5,485 . 00 

Cash 1,523-31 

$10,253.31 
Cr. 

By bal. of acc't Aug. 3, 1835 $5,928.31 

By interest rec'd 4,325 . 00 

$10,253.31 
Aggregate: 

Notes $20,635 • 00 

Bank Stock 5,645 . 00 

Cash 1,177 • 10 

$27,457.10 
Worcester, May 26, 1845, 

E. E., A. D. Foster, Treas} 



Librarian's Report 

In the Report of the Librarian rendered last October, 
the condition of the building containing the collections of the 
Society was represented as tolerably sound, with the exception 
of a leakage in one portion of the roof. On examination the 
defective spot was detected and easily repaired, and the roof 
has continued tight during the winter. 

It was suggested, in the same Report, that some alteration 
of interior arrangements might be advisable. An apartment 
of considerable size having been vacated by the removal of 
the library of the late Mr. Lincoln, an opportunity was afforded 
of transferring the books from the newspaper room, and fitting 
up the latter with shelves for the accomodation of newspapers 
only, with the addition of proper conveniences for the custody 
of maps and charts. These changes were deferred by the 

1 Except from October, 1843, to February, 1844, the accounts of the Treas- 
urer are in Mr. Jennison's handwriting through the whole of Mr. Foster's 
incumbency of the office. 



482 American Antiquarian Society 

Council until a more favorable period of the year. In the 
meantime, however, the new accessions to the Library, and 
such other books as were destitute of a suitable location, have 
been arranged in the vacant room; and, from the space already 
occupied, it appears that additional shelves will be required 
there, also, to adapt it to the wants of the Library. 

It having been stated, that the condition of the Library 
rendered expedient the appHcation of a large amount of extra 
labor in the registration of books and pamphlets, with refer- 
ences to location upon the shelves, the separation and assort- 
ment of dupKcates, the preparation of pamphlets for binding, 
etc., etc., an assistant^ was provided, by whose aid, during a 
portion of the interval since the last Report was presented, 
a good deal of that important work has been accomplished. 

Thirteen hundred and eighty-six volumes have been ar- 
ranged in the vacant apartment, labelled, numbered, and their 
places recorded. Four thousand two hundred and fourteen 
pamphlets, either now or previously entered upon the Cata- 
logue have been assorted for binding ; and seven thousand one 
hundred and forty-two pamphlets, and one thousand and 
seventy-three volumes of books, have been laid aside as 
duplicates. 

The separation of dupHcates has involved a careful ex- 
amination of the Library and the Catalogue, and caution has 
been used lest a different edition of a work should be set down 
as a duplicate copy, which has not, except in some unim- 
portant cases, been intentionally done. 

In addition to the duplicates above enumerated, about 
twelve hundred pamphlets and a few volumes, have been 
exchanged for other books and pamphlets, many of which are 
valuable accessions to the library. It remains for the Council 
to determine what disposition shall be made of the residue. 
There are, moreover, many bundles of odd numbers of maga- 
zines and periodicals, not reckoned with the tracts, which 
are duplicates; and a considerable collection of numbers and 
imperfect sets, not duplicates, which have been arranged and 
laid aside to await an opportunity of completion. 

Since the last Report, the increase has been three hundred 
and thirty volumes and one hundred and sixty pamphlets, be- 
sides the regular public documents of the State, a few files 
of unbound newspapers, and several engravings. The addi- 

1 In the Treasurer's account book, under May, 1845, is the entry "For 
Chase $100." Presumably this was Thomas Chase. 



Meeting of October 23, 1845 483 

tions of the year present the very respectable aggregate of 
twelve hundred and sixty-live volumes, a great proportion of 
which are really valuable and substantial works. 

The interleaved volumes of the Catalogue have become 
so nearly filled with new entries that the question of printing 
an appendix must ere long be a matter of consideration. 

The use of the Library for consultation and reference is as 
constant and regular as it is liberally and freely permitted; 
and whatever the Society has done, or may do, in the more 
noticeable way of pubHcation, it is believed that its quiet and 
unostentatious utiHty must fully equal the highest anticipa- 
tions of its founders and friends. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven, Librarian. 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1845 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, held at 
Antiquarian Hall, on Thursday, the 23d of October, 1845. 

Hon. John Davis in the Chair. 

Voted, To hear the Reports of the Treasurer, of the Librarian 
and of the Council to the Society — which were severally read. 

Voted, That the several Reports be committed to the Pub- 
lishing Committee, and that they pubUsh such parts thereof 
as they may think proper. 

Voted, To choose a committee to audit the Treasurer's Ac- 
count, and make a report to the Council. Chose Hon. Isaac 
Davis, and Hon. Emory Washburn. 

Voted, To choose a committee to nominate candidates for 
officers of the Society for the ensuing year, except for the 
office of second Vice-President, the election of which officer 
is postponed imtil the semi-annual meeting in May next. 

Chose Dr. John Park, Hon. Isaac Davis, Hon. Emory 
Washburn, who made report of the list of last year's officers, 
except that they reported the name of Samuel Jennison as 
Counsellor in the place of Benjamin F. Thomas. 

Voted, That the Librarian be directed not to admit visitors 
to the Hall unless they are introduced by a member. 

Voted, To choose a committee to consider what measures 
may be adopted to promote the interests of the Society, and 
to report to the Council. Chose Hon. Emory Washburn, 
Samuel F. Haven, Esq., Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 



484 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, To choose a committee to examine into the rights 
of the Society to the land on the south of Antiquarian Hall, 
and to see what measures are necessary to preserve the rights 
of the Society — to report to the Council. Chose Hon. 
Emory Washburn, Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 

Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Officers of the American Antiquarian Society elected Octo- 
ber 23d, 1845. 

President 

Hon. Edward Everett, LL.D. 

Vice-President 
Hon. John Davis, LL.D. 

Counsellors 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Sam'l M. Burnside, Esq. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
John Green, M.D. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Hon. Emory Washburn. 
Stephen Salisbltry, Esq. 
Sam'l Jennison, Esq. 

Secretaries 

Hon. John Pickering, Foreign Correspondence. 
Hon. Benj'n F. Thomas, Domestic Correspondence. 
Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer 
Hon. Alfred D. Foster. 

Publishing Committee 

Stephen Salisbury, Esq. 
Sam'l F. Haven, Esq. 
Peleg W. Chandler, Esq. 

Attest, 

Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Sec'y. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1845 485 

Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society for the 
year of 1845 respectfully report: 

If anything were necessary to impress upon the mind of a 
true antiquary, the importance of care and diligence in gar- 
nering up for the future the facts of the present with the 
treasures of the past, it would be found in the frequent occur- 
rence of the anniversaries which serve to mark the history of 
this association. So quiet, however, and uniform, is the 
current of events which constitute the materials of its im- 
mediate history, that little ordinarily presents itself from year 
to year with which to fill or vary the reports of the Council, 
upon whom the duty is devolved of exhibiting a periodical 
statement of the condition and progress of this Society. 

In presenting their annual Report for the year 1845, the 
Council are happy to congratulate the members and friends 
of the American Antiquarian Society that each succeeding 
year finds the purposes of its foimder and patrons in progress 
of accompKshment. Its officers are found faithful, its funds 
carefully managed and safely invested, its Library constantly 
increasing imder the courteous and attentive supervision of 
its Librarian, and becoming more adequately appreciated for 
the rich stores it opens to the historian, the antiquary and 
the scholar. 

The state of the Society's funds and the condition of the 
Library and the building in which it is contained, are fully 
exhibited in the accompanying reports of the Treasurer and 
Librarian, and leave little room for comment on the part of 
the Council. They, however, may properly remark that it 
is understood that so much progress has been made in pre- 
paring for publication the first volume of the Colony Records 
of Massachusetts that it has been principally copied and will 
soon be in readiness for the press. It is further believed that 
upon a proper representation, the Legislature of this Common- 
wealth might be induced to aid in the publication of a volume 
so full of interest to its citizens as would be these early records 
of the Company and Colony that laid thus early the founda- 
tion of many of our most valuable laws and institutions. And 
the Council would therefore recommend such further action in 
the premises as may effectuate so desirable an object. 

Arnong the events which have marked the last half year 
the Society need hardly be reminded that death has stricken 



486 American Antiquarian Society 

down one of the most distinguished of its members and de- 
prived it of one of its highest officers. Scarcely had that 
eminent statesman and scholar, the President of this Society, 
been welcomed back to his native soil after a sojourn abroad, 
where he had shed lustre upon the nation which he so ably 
and honorably represented, as well as upon his own name, 
when that distinguished jurist, their second vice-president, 
was suddenly snatched from the midst of his usefulness, his 
honors and his astonishing labors, and left behind him a 
name and a fame as immortal as that jurisprudence of which 
he had so long been an almost unrivaled expounder and 
luminary. After having filled with uniform fidelity and 
unsurpassed abiHty the high and responsible duties of a Repre- 
sentative in Congress, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives of Massachusetts, and Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, and in every relation in life having 
sustained a character above reproach, the Hon. Joseph Story 
died at the age of sixty-six on the loth of September, 1845, 
and left not only to this and the other institutions with which 
he was connected, but to his country and his generation, the 
rich legacy of his example and the imperishable fruits of his 
indefatigable labors. 

In concluding their Report, the Council cannot forbear 
renewedly to urge upon the Society the exertion of greater and 
more adequate efforts to render this institution what its 
munificent founder and its patrons designed and the causes 
of American History required that it should be. As stewards 
of a noble heritage, it needs but their reasonable service to 
render its usefulness and its name commensurate with the 
world of letters and the constantly expanding field of anti- 
quarian research.^ 

October 23, 1845. 

^ This report was written by Hon. Emory Washburn. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1845 487 

Treasurer's Report 

American Antiquarian Society in acc't with the Treasurer 
{Residuary Fund) 
Dr. 

To notes $2 100 . 00 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash 272 . 50 

Bal. of expense acc't 172.05 

$3344 55 
Cr. 
By interest received $3344 • 55 

$3344-55 

American Antiq. Society in accH with the Treasurer 

{Fund of $12,006) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

" Citizens " " 1,100.00 

" Notes 1 1,000 . 00 

" Cash 1,324-53 

$13,924-53 
Cr. 

By amo't rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

Income rec'd exceeding Librarian's Salary 2,528 . 53 

$13,924-53 

American Antiquarian Society in accH with the Treasurer 
{Reserved Fund of $5000) 
Dr. 

To notes $5,585.00 

Worcester Bank Stock 900.00 

Shawmut Bank Stock 2,345 . 00 

Cash 1,664 • 09 

$10,494.09 
Cr. 

By amo't being the bal. of this acc't Aug. 3, 1835 $5,928.31 

By interest, rec'd 4,565 . 78 

$10,494.09 

Residuary Fimd $3,172 . 50 

Fvmd of $12,000 13,924.53 

Fund of $5000 10,494 • 09 

$27,591.12 



488 American Antiquarian Society 

Nov. 7, 1845. The above account has been examined by 
us and found to be true and correct, the same being properly 
vouched and stated. 



Emory Washburn i ^ 

Isaac Davis \ Committee. 



Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian's second semi-annual Report of the year 1845. 

Little variety can be expected in the periodical statements 
made by the Librarian of the condition and progress of matters 
committed to his care. The customary routine of his duties 
and occupations is hardly less uniform and regular than the 
movements of Time itself. The daily visitors, generally 
numerous, the wants of literary or historical students, letters 
of inquiry for information, the receipt and acknowledgement 
of donations, efforts to secure such antiquarian waifs as chance 
to come within his reach, and numerous minor emplojonents 
incidental to the ofifice — follow or accompany each other in 
continued and changeless succession. The unostentatious 
and noiseless utiUty of the institution, though better known 
to him than to any one else, need not be enlarged upon to the 
Council. They are aware that its collections are wddely 
appreciated and extensively used by the community, and that 
its influence is constantly, if silently, exerted, in a manner 
corresponding to the purposes of its founders; but, as may be 
supposed, the draughts from its stores that go to enrich the 
productions of the press, are less likely to be recognised by 
them than by the Librarian. It is a pleasure of frequent 
recurrence to him to trace in histories, in addresses, orations, 
and genealogies, and even in the minute archaeology of such 
works as that most anagogical of romances (to use a term of 
its own) recently pubhshed v>dth the title of ''Margaret,"^ 
the fruits of researches made mthin these walls, and with his 
humble assistance. 

The increase of books, pamphlets, and articles of interest, 
which the Librarian has had occasion to notice in his late 
Report, has been more than respectable, and indicative of 

^ This report, which is unsigned, is in the handwriting of Samuel Jennison. 
* Sylvester Judd's "Margaret," Boston, 1845. 



Meeting of October 23, 1845 489 

substantial growth. It was stated by him, in May last, that 
no less than 1265 volumes, besides pamphlets, files of news- 
papers, and other matters there referred to had been added 
within the year. He has now to record a further increase, 
since that period, of 580 volumes, and 1260 pamphlets, with 
other things of which an account will be given. 

To enter more particularly into the nature and origin of 
these accessions; 63 volumes and 510 pamphlets were re- 
ceived from the Hon, Phny Merrick; 463 pamphlets were 
contributed by the Rev. Charles Lowell, Hon Edward Everett, 
Samuel Wells, Esq., Dr. Jacob Porter, and Dr. Samuel B. 
Woodward, all of whom, as well as the first named, are mem- 
bers of the Society, and have shown their interest in its progress 
by donations of more or less value. Several authors of local 
histories and publications of an historical or antiquarian 
character, have deposited copies of their particular works. 
Mrs. L. H. Sigourney has presented six volumes of her 
writings. A multitude of single pamphlets have been re- 
ceived from sources too numerous to mention;' and in proof 
of the manner in which the disconnected and chaotic materials 
of which we are wont to be the recipients, may ultimately 
arrange themselves, according to their affinities, into a form 
of unity and completeness, the missing numbers of one 
useful series that for nineteen years had been laid aside as 
imperfect, have dropped into their places with an exactness 
that resembled the operation of an organic law. 

Most public hbraries are enlarged by the addition of perfect 
works, unbroken sets and pubHcations entire in the extent 
to which they have gone; to us is given of such as the donor 
may chance to have. Our archives are the receptacle of 
things that would be lost upon earth but for the shelter and 
security provided for them here. Hence a portion of our col- 
lections is always in a fragmentary condition; yet always 
tending to order and wholeness by the gradual conjunction 
of divided parts. 

Our Society has not been forgotten by foreign institutions 
and kindred associations in our own land. Since its last 
meeting, pubKcations have been received from the Royal 
Bavarian Academy of Sciences at Munich, from the Royal 
Geographical Society of London, from the Geographical Society 
of Paris, from the Historical Institute of Paris, from the 
Ethnological Society of New York, from the Rhode Island 
Historical Society, from the Cincinnati Historical Society, 



490 American Antiquarian Society 

from the New Jersey Historical Society, from the American 
Philosophical Society, from the Providence Athenaeum, and 
from the Young Men's Institute at Hartford. The President 
of our own institution, who while filHng a more distinguished 
station abroad, has sent home repeated tokens of his remem- 
brance and interest, has also been the medium of donations 
from the British Government. It is hoped that this Society 
may soon be able to reciprocate all such favors in a manner 
worthy of its purposes, its reputation and its resources. 

A considerable portion of our recent accessions was obtained 
in a manner that possesses an economical merit as a business 
transaction, even if its intrinsic importance should prove not 
to be great. The Hbrary of a deceased clerg}Tnan^ in a coun- 
try town, of this county, who was not without some literary 
and scientific taste, was appraised by the neighbors, called in 
to make an inventory of his estate, at the sum of sixty- three 
dollars. It was offered to this institution by his administrator 
at an advance of twelve dollars upon the estimate. The books 
ha\ing been examined by your Librarian, a purchase was 
concluded upon the terms proposed. They have since been 
received and placed upon our shelves, and are found to num- 
ber four hundred and sixty- two volumes, from which it is 
believed that a hundred volumes might be selected which 
would, together, command a greater price than was paid for 
the whole collection. There are also among them some edi- 
tions possessing an antiquarian value worthy of consideration 
here, although it might not be appreciated in the market. 

A class of donations, not yet referred to, consists of an auto- 
graph letter of PhiHp Doddridge, a Sandwich Island toma- 
hawk, a brass spoon of peculiar and antiquated fashion found 
in the earth at Winchester, N. H., a venerable warming pan 
bearing upon its lid the date of 1627, five Indian arrow heads, 
and the same number of copper coins. A Ms. sermon of Rev. 
Joseph Bean of Wrentham, written in 1758, should not be 
omitted. The letters are more than half an inch in altitude 
and form an admirable contrast to the Ms. Sermons of Father 
Stoddard which are in chirography so minute as to bid defiance 
to unassisted vision. It should be added that the donor begs 
hard for an autograph of Cotton Mather in return for his gift. 

In accordance with a vote of the Council, some alterations 
have been made in the accommodations of the Ubrar}'. All 
books not newspapers have been removed from the newspaper 
1 Rev. Jonathan Farr of Harvard. 



Meeting of May 27, 1846 491 

room, and the apartment provided entirely with shelves 
adapted to that single class of collections. The shelves that 
were taken away have been made into alcoves in the room at 
the head of the stairs, lately vacated by the removal of a 
private Hbrary. New shelves have also been constructed in 
other portions of the building. These changes have broken 
up the existing order and association of a portion of the books, 
and occasioned a temporary disarrangement of numbers and 
places. The increase of accommodation, though considerable, 
will soon be insufficient for the wants of the hbrary, if con- 
venience and appearance are consulted as well as a mere 
provision of necessary space. No leakage or other material 
defect in the building has been discovered during the summer. 
All which is respectfully sumbitted. 

[Sam'l F. Haven.] 



MEETING OF MAY 27, 1846 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society at the 
Tremont House, in Boston, May 27th, 1846. 

Hon. Edward Everett, President, in the Chair. 

The Secretary read the proceedings of the last meeting. 

The Report of the Council to the Society was read and 
accepted. 

The Report of the Treasurer was read. 

The Report of the Librarian was read. 

The Report of the committee chosen at the last meeting, to 
consider what measures may be adopted to promote the in- 
terests of the Society, was read by the chairman, Hon. Emory 
Washburn.^ 

Voted, To proceed to ballot for the election of members. 

Elected 

Rev. WilHam B. Sprague, D.D., of Albany. 

Rev. John McCaul, D.D., Vice-President of the University 
of Toronto, Canada. 

Rev. John Strachan, D.D., Lord Bishop of Toronto, and 
President of the University. 

The following resolution was offered by Charles Sumner, Esq. 

Resolved, That the American Antiquarian Society mourn 
the death of their associate and Foreign Secretary, the Hon. 

^ Printed, with the other reports, at the end of the records of this meeting. 



492 American Antiquarian Society 

John Pickering, and hereby record their grateful recollection 
of him as a member of their Society, as a jurist of rare ex- 
cellence, a scholar of transcendant learning, and a man of 
singular purity and goodness. 

Adopted, And voted that a copy be communicated to his 
family. 

Voted, The Reports which have been read be committed 
to the Council, to be acted upon by them as they may think 
proper. 

Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society respect- 
fully submit the following report to the semi-annual meeting 
of May 27th, 1846. 

If the laws of the institution did not impose the duty upon 
the Council, at each meeting of the Society, the mere ordinary 
progress, which could be reasonably expected in six months, 
would seem hardly to justify calHng their attention to what 
can be but Httle more than a repetition of statements, often 
made on similar occasions. They could at most only say as 
they do now with much gratification, that the Library and 
cabinet are in good condition, and have been considerably 
enlarged by fresh accumulations; that their funds have in- 
creased (a fact which some perhaps would think not highly 
creditable to their activity in amassing intellectual treasures) ; 
that the general interests of the Society are watched over and 
advanced with fidelity and unabated perseverance by its 
officers, and the great objects of the institution pursued with 
untiring diligence and encouraging success. 

To the Report of the Librarian and that of the Treasurer 
the Council refer the Society, as usual, for particular informa- 
tion in regard to whatever relates to the department of those 
officers, who merit the full confidence of the Society for the 
ability and zeal they manifest in the discharge of their im- 
portant duties. The Report of the former furnishes unusual 
cause for congratulation. Perhaps in no previous interval of 
six months, has our Library been so much enriched by the 
number and variety of additions to it, resulting in part from 
contributions, but principally from the judicious efforts of 
that able and devoted officer. Among the contributions, it is 



Meeting of May 27, 1846 493 

gratifying to find publications from some foreign and several 
American institutions, with which this Society has relations 
of correspondence or exchange. 

The Council have not hesitated to meet cordially all over- 
tures coming from kindred institutions of respectable char- 
acter, to establish these friendly relations, considering that 
a liberal intercourse of this nature cannot fail to stimulate 
a praiseworthy emulation in scientific inquiry and research, 
and to enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge and 
accelerate the progress of man in the development of the 
noblest faculties of his nature. 

Our Library and cabinet, however, are far short of what the 
Council desire, and hope to make them. It is the great pur- 
pose of our association, never to be lost sight of, that these 
depositories should contain all that the historian, the philoso- 
pher, the theologian, and the general scholar of our country 
may desire for reference in all the intellectual labors in which 
they may engage for the benefit of man. Hitherto our pur- 
chases have been necessarily much limited, but the present 
amount of our funds may warrant more liberal appropriations 
to meet the wants and expectations of the community. 

In compliance with the instructions of the Society, the 
I St volume of the records of the General Court has been trans- 
cribed with a view to publication. The transcript has not 
yet been collated with the original, for want of a suitable 
person to undertake so critical a task, who could conveniently 
give the necessary time to its execution, as the Secretary of 
State will not permit the volume to be taken from his office. 
It is hoped that the Rev. Mr. Felt may be induced to perform 
this important service, so soon as he can find leisure to attend 
to it. The Rev. Mr. Alexander Young is understood to have 
made preparations to publish a portion of the same matter, 
and his work is expected daily to issue from the press. The 
committee of publication have therefore thought it desirable 
to learn the nature and extent of his production before the 
plan of editing and publishing that of the Society should be 
definitely settled, or its execution put in further progress. 

It was the painful office of the Council, in their last Report, 
to notice the loss sustained by the Society in common with 
every section of our country, and by the civihzed world, in 
the decease of one of our Vice-presidents, the late lamented 
Judge Story. In regard to that illustrious man, when, during 
the latter period of his hfe, we were repeatedl}^ admonished 



494 American Antiquarian Society 

by successive attacks of a fatal disease, that "the time of his 
departure was at hand," we could hardly forbear, in view of 
his great talents and unsurpassed services, to utter the ex- 
clamation, "Nunc deos misericordes esse oportet"; and our 
only consolation was "Diis ahter visum." 

But death, the merciless destroyer, has not been satisfied 
with this triumph. Within the present month another dis- 
tinguished member of this Society, and one of its officers, 
has fallen beneath his all conquering power; the Hon. John 
Pickering, the indefatigable, persevering student, the ripe and 
accompHshed scholar, the intelligent and prudent legislator, 
the learned and able jurist, the patriotic and upright citizen, 
the amiable and social companion, has ceased from his labors 
here, and having nearly reached the assigned limit of human 
existence, has entered, we trust, upon higher duties, and the 
enjoyment of the richer reward of a life faithfully devoted to 
the cause of human improvement and happiness. 

While we mourn the loss of departed worth, we would draw 
from the contemplation of it, new motives to greater fidehty 
and increased efforts, in the hope that after our work is done, 
" we may die the death of the good man, and that our last 
end may be like his." ^ 

May 26th, 1846. 



Treasurer's Report 

Am. Antigen Society in accH with the Treasurer 
{Original Residuary Fund) 
Dr. 

To Notes $2100. cjo 

Oxford Bank Stock '. 400 . 00 

Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Balance being expenditure beyond the am't of principal . 549 . 37 

$3449-37 
Cr. 

By Balance of cash acc't $38 . 82 

Interest received 3410 . 55 

$3449-37 

1 The committee to prepare this Report was Samuel M. Burnside and Ben- 
jamin F. Thomas, and it was written by the former. 



Meeting of May 27, 1846 495 

Am. Antiq'n Society in accH with the Treasurer 
(Librarian's Fund) 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500. 00 

Citizens Bank 1,100.00 

Notes i2'640»5 

$14,240.85 

Cr. 

By am't rec'd May 21, 1831 ; $11,396.00 

Profits or interest rec'd beyond expense of Lib'n 2,710. 28 

Cash acc't bal ^3457 

$14,240.85 

Am. Antiq'n Society in accH with the Treasurer 
{Fund of $5000) 

Dr. 

To Shawmut Bank Stock (cost) $2,345 00 

Worcester Bank Stock 900.00 

Notes 7,368.00 

Cash ^°6.4i 

$10,819.41 

Cr. 

By Balance Aug't, 1835 $5,928.31 

Interest received 4,891 • 1° 

$10,819.41 

Residuary Fund $2,861 . 18 

Librarian's Fund 14,106.28 

Fund of $5000 10,819.41 

$27,786.79' 
May 2 2d, 1846. 

Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian respectfully presents a report upon the con- 
dition and interests of the matters committed to his charge. 

The accession of various kinds, since the statement ex- 
hibited in October last, have been considerable in number and 
importance. They consist of 296 volumes of books, 935 
pamphlets, besides a mass of unbound legislative documents, 
maps, charts and newspapers, etc., not in a condidon to be 

1 Evidently an error for $27,786.87. Although the report is not signed, the 
Treasurer at this time was A. D. Foster. 



496 American Antiquarian Society 

numerically estimated, a great variety of manuscripts, single 
and in collection, some Indian and military relics, and a few 
coins. 

The books are most of them large and substantial works, 
having a standard and permanent interest, and a correspond- 
ing pecuniary value. An unusual proportion of the pam- 
phlets are of comparatively recent date, or older publications 
that were wanting in the Hbrary. Among the Mss., are a 
collection of letters, miUtary papers, etc., of Gen. Bradstreet, 
and of Sir WilHam Johnson; mihtary papers and journals of 
Baron Steuben, and of Peter S. DuPonceau, then his aid; a 
military letter-book of Gen. PhiHp Schuyler, and a quantity 
of other letters, papers, orderly books and account books of 
the period of the French wars and of the Revolution.^ Be- 
sides these, are nine large bundles of correspondence of Joseph 
Lancaster, a mass of miscellaneous autograph documents, 
letters, sermons, etc., ha\dng an historical, as well as curious 
interest; a beautiful illuminated Ms. upon vellum, to which 
the date of 1304 is aflfixed;^ and a Ms. Diary of that hero of 
Pinetree shillings, sixpennies and threepennies, Master John 
Hull, the superintendent of the Colonial Mint. 

Among the relics are an Indian stone pot of great size, 
uncommonly perfect and well hnished, lately found in Brook- 
field, and a few musket and cannon balls brought b}' a member 
of the Society from scenes of Revolutionary conflict. 

P'rom the fono\\dng institutions, with which the Antiquarian 
Society is in relations of correspondence or exchange, publica- 
tions of more or less consequence have been received: Adz., 
from the Historical Institute of France, the Geographical 
Society of Paris, the Royal Geographical Society of London, 
the American Philosophical Society, the Pennsylvania His- 
torical Society, the New Jersey Historical Society, the Ken- 
tucky Historical Society, the New York Historical Society, 
the New York State Library, and the Dorchester Antiquarian 
and Historical Society. 

Nothing has been transmitted to other institutions in behalf 
of our own, except that the Catalogue of the Library has been 
sent to the Ethnological Society of New York, and to the 

^ It is stated later in the Report that these manuscript accessions came 
from Rev. William B. Sprague of Albany. There is, unfortunately, a gap in 
the Record of Donations from 1840 to 1847 which is imperfectly filled by loose 
sheets. 

" This I\Is. bears the inscription "Am. Antiquarian Society from Geo. 
Brinley, Esq." 



Meeting of May 27, 1846 497 

trustees of the N. Y. State Library at Albany. It is believed 
that all the associations which have been named, unless that 
of Dorchester should prove an exception, are supplied with 
the past publications of this Society. A growing activity is 
manifested among these kindred associations which may re- 
quire increased exertion on the part of older and better en- 
dowed establishments, for the maintainance of their proper 
standing and consideration. 

The policy of disposing of books, pamphlets, etc., which are 
dupHcates in the Library, for others that societies or indi- 
viduals may be ready to give in exchange, has been frequently 
discussed by the Council. Under certain limitations the 
Librarian is authorised to make such transfers. Scruples are 
sometimes expressed with respect to the expediency of parting 
with dupHcates, especially when they have been received in 
the way of donations. To many cases the objection may be 
justly applied, though not always regarded in pubHc Hbraries. 
Yet the Hberality of donors has frequently no reference to the 
particular matters which may constitute their deposits; and 
in an institution like this, there will always be an accumulation 
of duplicates, especially pamphlets and odd numbers or im- 
perfect sets of magazines and periodicals to whose exchange 
no shadow of objection can exist. It is easy to distinguish 
between those that are properly subject to the discretion of 
the Society, and others which should be considered sacred as 
special deposits. 

The Librarian has endeavored to use the authority intrusted 
to him in a careful and judicious manner. He has been able 
to obtain some valuable additions in return for that which 
would be of trifling consideration in itself, did it not happen 
to supply a vacancy in the series of some zealous collector. 
Thus a parcel of odd numbers of magazines have been ex- 
changed for a collection of Spanish and French newspapers, 
a set of British Agricultural Surveys elaborately executed, 
with maps and drawings, in 1794, forming as bound six large 
4to volumes and a make-weight of miscellaneous documents 
which may go into the sinking fund for future operations. 
The illuminated Missal before mentioned and a fine royal 
8vo copy of the Journal of the Exploring Expedition have 
been obtained for a few old pamphlets, and a Ms. of Cotton 
Mather. It may be well to state in this connection that re- 
peated attempts to procure a. copy of this Journal of the 
Exploring Expedition from Washington have failed of success. 



498 American Antiquarian Society 

The last communication on the subject to the Librarian, from 
Hon. John Davis, was decisive as to the improbabihty of 
securing from that source, either the Journal or the Scientific 
Reports, resulting from that Expedition. The regular docu- 
ments and journals of Congress come to the Library under a 
resolve of that body passed many years since, and our senators 
and representatives frequently transmit incidental publica- 
tions of interest; but there are many important publications of 
the government that we do not possess, and which it is prob- 
able nothing but a special effort will procure. 

To return to the subject of exchanges, the most important 
operation in that way, and that requiring the most delicate 
exercise of judgment has been with manuscripts. By a vote 
of the Council the Librarian was instructed to select from the 
Mss. of the society a portion of those that from their nature 
or surplus of a similar kind could well be spared, and proceed 
to Albany for the purpose of negotiating an exchange with 
Rev. Dr. Sprague, whose large collection has acquired a general 
celebrity. Knowing that manuscript sermons of New Eng- 
land divines, ancient or modern, were particularly desired by 
him as autographs, specimens of these from bundles in pos- 
session of the Society, with some important scraps of the 
hand writing of the fathers of the Colonies were selected for 
his acceptance. The proposition of the Council not only met 
with a most cordial reception, but was responded to mth a 
degree of HberaHty that could hardly have been anticipated. 
The return was not confined to an equivalent in autographs 
and manuscript sermons, but embraced the military papers 
and other manuscript documents noticed when . speaking of 
our accessions, and extended to books and pamphlets of various 
and useful kinds; and these, moreover, were regarded but as 
an earnest of what might be afterwards bestowed and as 
evidence of a disposition to continue a relation that might be 
made mutually beneficial. 

Another purpose of the journey to Albany was to obtain 
from the legislature of New York, then in session, a grant to 
the Antiquarian Society of documents past and future at the 
control of the State, such as has been provided for to some 
extent by the governments of other States. To this end an 
effort, apparently successful, was made to interest influential 
members of the legislature in the subject. Upon consultation, 
however, it was decided impracticable, on account of the press 
of business to gain the attention of the legislature before its 



Meeting of May 27, 1846 499 

adjournment, which was near at hand; yet some gentlemen 
of the senate who expect to be present at the next session, 
have promised to see that the matter receives early attention 
there. 

This temporary disappointment has nevertheless been amply 
compensated by the kind activity of Dr. Sprague, who with 
great personal exertion has collected a large and valuable 
portion of the laws, journals, documents, etc., of previous 
years, and transmitted them to the Society. It is said that 
a design has been formed of printing at the expense of the 
State, wholly or in part, the entire collection of historical 
documents gathered in Europe by their late agent, Mr. Brod- 
head.' If this should be done, it will be a great object to be 
entitled to share in the distribution. 

The manuscripts of the Society have undergone a careful 
examination with reference to their nature and condition. 
Some instances were found where they had been attributed 
to wrong authors, and such mistakes have been corrected, 
where a critical comparison of hand-writing and other means 
of information were available. 

There exists a very respectable foundation for a department 
of Mss. and autographs, which with proper exertion may be 
made a prominent portion of our collections. The preserva- 
tion of autographs, merely as such, may seem a trifling object 
of attention; but they frequently serve. a higher purpose than 
that of simple curiosity. A late pubhcation of the Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society bears testimony to the utility of 
this pursuit in bringing to light important documents. They 
also frequently prove valuable as a means of identification. 
The policy observed by this Society with regard to pamphlets 
and printed productions of every description may with not 
less reason be applied here ; and it is desirable that no friend 
of the institution who may have the means of contributing 
autographs of whatever nature should be deterred by the 
impression that they are not appropriate to its designs. 

The papers of the Mathers occupy a considerable space 
am.ong our manuscripts; and of these the diaries, notebooks, 
and letters of Cotton Mather deserve particular consideration. 
The Society is probably the largest possessor of the literary 
remains, be they folHes or otherwise, of that noted personage. 
This is a reason for making the collection, if possible, still more 
perfect. A small portion of the diaries is in possession of the 
Mass. Historical Society. It is desirable to have these 



500 American Antiquarian Society 

brought together. With much of idle gossip and conceited 
reverie, not always even amusing, they contain records of 
facts and notices of events, which render them useful for 
reference. As this Society could easily give something of 
equal value in exchange, it is suggested whether the proposal 
of such an arrangement to the Historical Society may not 
be expedient. 

The increase of a library often operates to render its de- 
ficiencies more conspicuous; not entirely upon the principle 
that the supply of one want is apt to generate a progeny of 
others, but because many things are looked for, as matters 
of course, in large collections, whose absence would hardly be 
noticed in smaller ones. It would be easy to exhibit a for- 
midable hst of desirable accessions for any Kbrary, however 
large, though the Librarian will make no such attempt in the 
present case ; yet a few prominent desiderata may be properly 
brought to the notice of the Council. 

In the first place some extended work of general biography 
is much needed, both for ordinary reference, and as a means 
of identifying the names and productions of authors. No 
very comprehensive work of the kind now exists in the hbrary. 
In the second place, although the Library possesses many 
valuable works of an older date, relating to American history 
and antiquities, with numerous local histories of later pubH- 
cation, it is not equally supplied wdth the results of more 
recent researches concerning the ancient remains of the coun- 
try and the habits and customs of its aboriginal inhabitants. 
For instance, Catherwood's drawings and descriptions of 
ancient monuments in Central America, Chiapas, and Yuca- 
tan, and Catlin's North American portfolio, are peculiarly 
appropriate to the objects of this institution, and a stranger 
would expect to find them here, not in cheap editions for 
common circulation, but in their most perfect and highly- 
finished style of publication. There are also sundry books of 
travels, geographical and statistical works, bearing upon the 
same investigations, whose collective cost would not be great 
and which it would be advantageous for the Library to possess 
without waiting for the chance that they may ultimately, if 
gradually, find their way to its shelves. 

The antiquities of the Mother Country, especially those of 
the most remote and obscure period of British history, have 
a strong claim upon the interest of American archaeologists, 
and this claim is strengthened by the remarkable analogy, 



Meeting of May 2^, 1846 501 

often amounting to identity of character subsisting between 
the aboriginal rehcs of the two countries. Reference is not 
intended here to the fanciful theories that have been formed 
out of imagined traces of Celtic idioms in the languages of 
some tribes of Indians, and connected with the traditions of 
Welsh, Irish and Scandinavian emigration, but to the more 
substantial resemblance in implements of war and peace, 
mode of interment and habits of life. It is true that nothing 
can be more delusive than such speculations as often con- 
ducted; and if we were to yield to the reasoning of different 
writers, we might believe that the lost ten tribes of Israel had 
been discovered, that the Egyptians, Phoenicians and Hindoos, 
not less than the Chinese Tartars, had contributed to the 
population of the country, that one of the generals of Alex- 
ander had erected a monimient and the Romans marked out 
their encampments upon our soil, that a Scotch Highlander 
conversed understandingly with the Esquimaux in Celtic, 
that Welshmen had found the descendants of the followers of 
Madoc among the Mandans, and that an Irish Colony was 
clearly traceable in Florida. Such dreams may perhaps de- 
serve a place by the side of the chronicles of Eri, which carry 
Irish history without faltering as high up the stream of time 
as the days of Japhet, or the genealogy of the kings of Britain, 
ascending without a break to Brute, son of ^Eneas. Homer 
and Herodotus, Hesiod and Virgil, have been made to yield 
strange archaeological revelations; and without deviating 
much from the principle of exegesis sometimes adopted, we 
might settle the much mooted question, "who were the mound 
builders? " in favor of the Indians, by quoting from Virgil a 
description of the tomb of the unhappy Polydorus, where it is 
said "Ingens aggeritur tumulo tellus." 

But although the farther back we can follow the memorials 
of the human race, particularly among nations of Scythian 
origin, the more affinities we can find to the arts and customs 
of our own aborigines; and notwithstanding the whole of 
northern Europe and Asia abound in evidence of curious and 
minute analogies, calculated to confound, while they promote, 
speculation; yet it may be instructive, as well as pleasing, to 
see how far the parallel can be sustained with some one coun- 
try, and especially with the native land of our fathers. When 
Julius Caesar invaded Britain, he found the interior occupied 
by a people clothed in skins, and painted like our savages. 
The elf -arrows, so called, found in all parts of the kingdom are 



502 American Antiquarian Society 

simply arrowheads of flint and bone precisely like those we 
possess in such abundance. The purgatory hammers, so 
denominated by the common people, are the exact counter- 
part of our Indian axes and hatchets of stone. A Httle pointed 
instrument called a celt, whose use was long a puzzle to British 
antiquaries, was at length traced to its connection with a 
ball or knot at the end of a club, and became a bona fide 
tomahawk. Canoes, too, that from every particular of con- 
struction might have been made in Virginia, have been brought 
to light from the lakes and mosses of Scotland. The method 
of boihng water by heated stones, and, ascending from smaller 
to greater characteristics, the modes of interment, the erection 
of tumuli, and the construction of fortifications, indicate a 
close conformity of habits, acts and superstitions to those of 
the primitive Americans. Although frequently noticed and 
referred to, it is beheved these resemblances have never been 
traced so far as by an unstrained comparison they might be 
carried, and they certainly furnish an appropriate subject of 
consideration, in connection with the study of our own 
antiquities. 

These remarks, though unnecessarily difi'use, were intended 
as introductory to the statement, that our Library is some- 
what deficient in the department of British Archaeology. We 
have a few volumes of the Transactions of the Antiquarian 
Society of Scotland, with some historical works that inci- 
dentally treat of antiquarian particulars; but the collections 
of societies devoted to such inquiries, and elaborate works of 
that nature, are chiefly wanting. Perhaps a suitable applica- 
tion to the associations from which these publications emanate 
would procure many of them for the Society. There are 
others which can be purchased in this country if it should be 
deemed expedient. 

These are all the matters which it seems important to notice 
at the present time. The classes of -works mentioned are 
such as are often inquired for at the Library, and it is supposed 
that some especial effort to procure them may be thought 
advisable, instead of awaiting their accession in the ordinary 
course of events. ' That portion of the operations of the Society 
which consists in the collection of books and other elements 
of historical information, may be considered as in favorable 
progress; and although these means of utility may be less 
conspicuous in their influence than others, that might and 
should be employed, yet in affording opportunity and facilities 



Meeting of May 27, 1846 503 

of investigation, one object of its creation, not least in im- 
portance, is fulfilled. 

S. F. Haven, Librarian. 
May, 1846. 

Report of Committee on Future Interests of the Society 

The Committee of the American Antiquarian Society who 
were directed "to consider what measures may be adopted 
to promote the interests of the Society," would respectfully 
report : 

They have found it much easier to arrive at the conclusion 
that something ought to be done to render the Society more 
useful and eJSicient, than to determine the details of what 
those measures should be. 

When it is recollected that this Society has been in operation 
for the space of thirty-four years, that it embraces members, 
the names of many of whom might be regarded as a guarantee 
of honorable endeavor and successful achievement in the fields 
of literature and science, that the individual efforts of its 
founder were able to accomplish so much and that he made 
such liberal provision for the prosecution of the work which 
he had so much at heart; and when it is remembered that 
only two volumes of its Transactions have been given to the 
world, the question almost irresistibly presents itself, whether 
the Society has accomplished the whole of its mission? Has 
it been as faithful in all respects as it should have been to the 
high purposes which were contemplated in its creation? 

Though naturally presenting themselves to the mind, these 
inquiries do not necessarily imply reproach to any one, even 
if met by a negative reply. If "the cares of this world and 
the deceitfulness of riches" are enough to divert the attention 
of men from their highest destinies, it should not be deemed 
strange if they stand in the way of their pursuits of literature 
or the cultivation of intellectual tastes. 

Without deeming it necessary to analyse the causes why 
so little has been accomplished by this Society, there is enough 
in the fact itself to awaken an interest in its members, to en- 
quire whether some system of measures may not be devised 
more effectually to advance the objects for which it was 
originally established. As a means of collecting and pre- 
serving for use the materials of a valuable library, there is 
little ground to impute a want of devotion to its interests. 



504 American Antiquarian Society 

Its stores of books, pamphlets and other papers, evince the 
zeal and industry which have been employed in this depart- 
ment of its operations. But something more is wanted to 
give full scope to its legitimate efforts. It never was designed 
that tliis Society should merely collect for others to use. It 
was contemplated not only that these accumulated stores 
should be thereby rendered accessible to all enquiring minds, 
but that the Society itself should exert an influence upon the 
community and the passing age. A taste for literary and 
antiquarian research was to be encouraged where it existed, 
or created where it was wanting; the pursuit of useful knowl- 
ledge was to be rendered more and more honorable, and to be 
made m.ore and more a substitute for the sordid struggle for 
money, or the engrossing strife for poKtical honors. 

But to do this its members should not content themselves 
with devoting now and then an hour in expatiating upon the 
value of its curious and literary treasures. They should show 
their appreciation of these treasures by spreading a knowl- 
edge of them more widely, and gi\'ing to them a more ex- 
tended currency. And especially should its members sustain, 
in its true spirit, their relation to each other as belonging to 
one body politic, seeking a common object and influenced by 
a common taste. In the absence of this spirit they might 
as well have remained altogether isolated. Under the name 
of associates they want the first principle of assimilation, 
which springs from a mutual and common sympathy. Such 
a society only wants a proper esprit du corps among its 
members, to make its influence felt and its name respected. 
But this can only be accomplished by a frequent intercourse 
between them in reference to a common pursuit. No one 
is at a loss to perceive the influence which the scholar or the 
man of science exerts upon those with whom he comes in 
contact in the relation of intmiacy. And what antiquary has 
not felt his own taste strengthened, and his own zeal reani- 
mated by even an accidental meeting with one whose taste 
and zeal were similar or superior to his own? 

In view of these obvious considerations, the measure which 
the committee would the most conJidently recommend, in 
order to advance the interests of the Society, is the frequent 
meetings of its members. Let them come together. Let 
them provide as often as may be for the reading at such meet- 
ings of papers upon some branch of antiquarian research, or 
topic of useful knowledge. They have the materials for these 



Meeting of May zy, 1846 505 

already provided at their hands, in the Library of the Society, 
and if at any time there shall be a failure to contribute such 
an offering, the meeting would not be lost; it would serve to 
cherish, if it did not create, that kindly spirit, that social 
amenity which emanates in his intercourse with others, from 
the quiet and amiable philosophy which characterises the true 
antiquary in his hours of seclusion. Such lyieetings, more- 
over, encourage and strengthen habits of attention and re- 
flection, upon topics which interest an antiquary, but which 
are apt to be diverted or dissipated by incessant devotion to 
business, or the uninterrupted pursuit of other branches of 
knowledge. If they do no more, they occasionally arrest for 
a passing hour, that hurried, anxious chase after some fancied 
good in prospect, which makes up so much of a Yankee's life, 
and give him a chance to pause and look around him, if they 
do not carry him back to the experience of the past, and show 
him thereby the folly of his eager soHcitude for the future. 

When alluding to the materials for interesting communi- 
cations which are within the reach of the members of this 
Society, the committee might add that to doubt this, would 
be but a poor compHment to the far-reaching thought, the 
patient research and the profound learning, which charac- 
terise the works of the scholars, the philosophers and the 
divines which adorn the shelves of its Library, the personal 
history of which authors, alone, could not fail to interest every 
generous mind. 

The committee have dwelt upon these general considera- 
tions, instead of going at once into matters of detail, because 
they beHeve the experience of other kindred societies justifies 
the conclusions which they would wish to enforce, as the 
results of a general course of reasoning. By a reference to 
authentic sources of information, such, it is believed, will be 
found to be the case with most, if not all, the associations in 
our country for the advancement of historical and antiquarian 
research, altho' few or none of them possess the amount 
of funds, or books, or other materials to aid in such a pursuit, 
unless it be in the abihty and devotion of their members, 
which this Society may at this time command. It is by such 
meetings and the published accounts of their transactions, 
that these societies foster a spirit of progress, and a generous 
rivalry, which identifies the success and good form of the 
association with the individual reputation of its members. 

The scattered and remote residences of the members of this 



5o6 American Antiquarian Society 

Society do not admit of very frequent meetings, but to do this 
monthly, or at least quarterly, is certainly within the power 
of many and ought to be within the desire of all. If to these 
were added occasional public meetings, at which other Hterary 
and scientific associations might be invited and represented, 
can it be doubted that very much could be done to supply that 
great desideratum in our country, a general, wide pervading 
taste for literary and scientific culture, which shall elevate and 
improve the social condition of her citizens, by snatching 
some portion of human Kfe and human affections from that 
all absorbing devotion to business or politics or money, which 
plants such deep furrows in the cheeks of even our educated 
men, and prematurely stamps the image of care and anxiety 
upon the countenances of the young and middle aged among us. 
Urged by considerations of which the foregoing is, at best, 
but an imperfect outline, the committee will venture to rec- 
ommend : 

1. That the Society adopt measures for holding meetings 
in Worcester, once every month during the winter season, and 
once every quarter during the balance of the year, at which its 
members shall feel bound to be present unless prevented by 
some reasonable cause, and at which other gentlemen of corre- 
sponding tastes and pursuits may be present, at the invitation 
of any* of its members. 

2. That such measures be adopted by the Society, through 
committees or otherwise, that one or more gentlemen may 
be induced at such meetings, from time to time, to read com- 
munications, original or selected, upon subjects connected 
with the general objects of the Society. 

3. That measures be adopted for holding a public meeting 
of the Society in October next, and at such intervals there- 
after as may be thought expedient, at which all kindred 
societies shall be invited to be present, and at which appro- 
priate exercises may be had, tending to elevate the character 
of the Society, to cultivate a more intimate relation with 
other societies, and to cherish a wider sympathy and a more 
enlarged intercourse between the literary and scientific men 
in the various parts of our country. 

4. That the regular meetings of the Society, herein con- 
templated, shall be held at such hours of the day as not to 
interfere with the ordinary business avocations of its members, 
and while provision is made for suitable refreshment on those 
occasions, such sumptuary laws shall be adopted and rigidly 



Meeting of October 2j, 1846 507 

enforced, as shall prevent all unnecessary expense, and, at the 
same time, prevent the meetings from degenerating from the 
dignity of a social and intellectual entertainment, to a mere 
convivial treat. 

Could some such measures as are here recommended by 
the committee be once adopted and followed out into a fair 
experiment, they do not doubt that in its results it would be 
found highly beneficial to the Society, as well as pleasant 
and profitable to its members; new spirit would be given 
their exertions to add to its collections; it would assume an 
active vitality as well as a "name to live," the objects of its 
founder and its early patrons would be far better answered 
than they have hitherto been, and the high trust committed 
to its officers and members would be performed in a manner 
to advance their own honor, and the great interests of learning 
in our land. [Emory Washburn] 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1846 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, at 
Antiquarian Hall, in Worcester, Oct. 23, 1846. 

Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., in the chair. 

Samuel F. Haven was chosen Recording Secretary pro tern. 

The Report of the Council was read, with the Reports of 
the Treasurer and the Librarian. 

Voted, That the Reports be accepted and referred to the 
Council with instructions to print such portions as they deem 
proper. 

Voted, To refer the Treasurer's Report to an auditing com- 
mittee. Chose Hon. Isaac Davis and Dr. John Park. 

Voted, To proceed to the election of members. 

Hon. Abbott Lawrence, of Boston, and Geo. Brinley, Jr., 
Esq., of Hartford, Conn., having been recommended by the 
Council, were unanimously elected. 

Voted, To proceed to the choice of officers for the year 
ensuing. 

Hon. Pliny Merrick and Hon. Stephen SaHsbury were 
appointed a committee of nomination, by whom the following 
list was reported. 

President, Hon. Edward Everett, LL.D. 

„. „ J / ( Hon. John Davis, LL.D. 
Vue-Presidents, | ^^^ William B. Sprague, D.D. 



Counsellors, 



508 American Antiquarian Society 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
John Green, M.D. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Hon. Emory Washburn. 
Hon. Stephen Salisbury. 
Hon. Alfred D. Foster. 

i Jared Sparks, Esq., LL.D., Foreign Correspondence. 
Secretaries, \ Hon. Benj'n F. Thomas, Domestic Correspondence. 
' Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer, Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

! Samuel F. Ha\^n, Esq. 
Rev. Joseph B. Felt. 
Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

All of whom were unanimously elected. 
A letter was read from Rev. Dr. Jenks of Boston, suggesting 
to the Society the expediency of publishing "the Lectures on 
American Ecclesiastical History, by the late Rev. Dr. Holmes."^ 
Voted, To refer the subject of this commimication to the 
Council, for such action as they may deem proper. 
Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Att, Sam'l F. Haven, 

Recording Sec'y pro tern. 



Report of the Council 

To the American Antiquarian Society, the Council respect- 
fully submit the follovdng Report upon their present condition 
and property: 

In regard to its Library and its funds, the minute and ex- 
tended reports of the respective officers who have charge of 
those several departments, which reports are herewith pre- 
sented, seem to leave nothing for the Council to add, except 
expressions of congratulation on the success which has attended 
their labors, and on the valuable accumulations which have 
resulted from the donations of individuals and associated 
beneficence. Great and striking results are not to be looked 
for in the six months progress of a society like this; but every 

^ Dr. Jenks had referred to this subject in his memoir of Rev. Abiel Holmes, 
in the Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc, ser. 3, vol. 7. p. 280. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1846 509 

reasonable expectation is answered in the fact, that every 
semi-annual retrospect has shown a steady, certain and cheer- 
ing gain in securing the laudable objects of our institution. 

Occasional examinations have satisfied the Council, that 
the books, pamphlets and papers in the library, and the 
various articles in the cabinet are all judiciously arranged and 
carefully preserved. It is understood by the Council, that 
a third volume of Transactions is in a state of forwardness 
for publication. The committee on whom this duty is de- 
volved, being elected by the Society, will report to the Society 
what they have done in pursuance of the powers with which 
they have been invested. 

Ten years have elapsed since our last publication; a time 
which may perhaps be thought unnecessarily, or at least 
unusually, long in gathering suitable materials, by an institu- 
tion so well provided with means of research and collection, 
for a volume of ordinary magnitude; but it must be always 
borne in mind, that the value and importance of our contri- 
butions to the stock of general knowledge should be judged 
of by their intrinsic character; not by the number of books, 
in which they are given to the world, or the space of time 
which passes between their respective publications. It is 
beheved that the work next to appear will be found worthy 
of all the time, and expense, and attention, which shall have 
been bestowed upon it. 

The prospects of the Society are bright and encouraging. 
Its resources of every kind are ample; sufficient to secure for 
it, and maintain a high national character, corresponding with 
the national name it has assumed. Nothing is wanted but 
the resolute, persevering, devoted energies of its most talented, 
learned and influential members, and to such influences the 
council cordially commend its future destinies.^ 

Worcester, Octo'r 21, 1846. 

1 This report was prepared by Samuel M. Burnside and Alfred D. Foster 
and is in the former's handwriting. 



5IO American Antiquarian Society 



Treasurer's Report 

The Am. Antiq'n Society in acc't with A. D. Foster, TreasW 
On acc't of General or Residuary Fund 
Dr. 

To notes $2 loo. oo 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash 317.66 

$3217.66 
Cr. 

By Bal. of General Fund $9 . 05 

Interest received 3208 . 61 

$3217.66 

The Am. Antiq'n Society in acc't with A. D. Foster, Treas'r 
On acc't of Librarian's Fund 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500.00 

Citizens' Bank Stock 1,100.00 

Notes 12,730.00 

$14,330.00 
Cr. 

By am't rec'd May, 1831 $11,396.00 

Interest rec'd, being the amount remaining after paying 

the Librarian's salary 2,438 . 47 

Cash due the Treas'r 495 . 53 

$14,330.00 

The Am. Antiq'n Society in acc't with A. D. Foster, Treas'r 
On acc't of Fund of $5000 
Dr. 

To Worcester Bank Stock $900 . 00 

ShawTnut Bank Stock 2,345 . 00 

Notes 6,280.00 

Cash 507 . 28 

$10,032. 28 
Cr. 

By amount credited Aug. 1835 $5,928.31 

Interest received 4,103 . 97 

$10,032.28 



Meeting of October 2j, 1846 511 

Amount of Residuary Fund $3,217 .66 

Librarian's Fund 13,834.47 

Fund of Five Thousand D 10,032 . 28 



$27,084.41 
E. E., A. D. Foster, Treas'r. 



Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian respectfully presents his Report for October 
23d, 1846. 

The year preceding the present one, was marked by an 
unusual increase of the Library and collections of the Society. 

From Oct. 23d, 1844, to Oct. 23d, 1845, the additions 
amounted to 910 volumes and 1420 pamphlets. This was 
altogether beyond the ordinary rate of progress, and is to be 
explained by the fact that, apart from donations, favorable 
opportunities had occurred of obtaining books at a moderate 
expense, of which advantage was taken. Although the ex- 
perience of the last year could not be regarded in the hght 
of a precedent which subsequent periods might be expected 
to follow, the present year has gone far towards a successful 
emulation of its predecessor; having reahzed an accession of 
720 books and 12 14 pamphlets, besides accumulation of im- 
portant manuscripts and articles of interest, perhaps quite 
sufficient in value to counterbalance the difference in numbers. 

The semi-annual Report of the Librarian in May last gave 
an account of accessions prior to that date, amounting to 
296 volumes, 935 pamphlets, and a considerable quantity of 
manuscripts. Since then 424 volumes and 279 pamphlets 
have been received, making the aggregate of books and pam- 
phlets for the year to be 720 of the first, and 12 14 of the last, 
as before stated. The present Report properly relates only 
to accumulations made since the Report above referred to as 
rendered in May, and covers a period of not quite five months. 

For a great proportion of these accessions the Society is 
indebted to the friendly interest and active energy of Rev. 
Dr. Sprague of Albany. An intercourse, commencing with 
the exchange of a few autographs and pamphlets, has been 
followed up by him in a most hberal and unwearied spirit. 
An extensive collection of the bound legislative documents of 



512 American Antiquarian Society 

New York, numerous, ancient and curious volumes gathered 
from the old Dutch families of that state, and many useful 
modern works, together filhng many shelves in our library, are 
the fruits of his good will and industrious exertions. The 
only return for these favors, has been such assistance as the 
Librarian could render, in completing from our duplicates 
certain sets of pamphlets, which Dr. Sprague was desirous to 
make perfect in his own collection; and the transfer to him, 
with the consent of the Council, of a few manuscripts, impor- 
tant only as autographs. It may be remarked that the pam- 
phlets were chiefly sermons, which, however interesting to 
clergymen, are not apt to be deemed of equal consequence by 
general readers. Even these, it has been intimated, may at 
some time return to the Library, with the enhanced value 
derived from a complete and arranged condition. 

Without undertaking to mention every particular contribu- 
tion, it is sufficient, perhaps, to name those other members 
of the Society, who have taken pains to transmit or deposit 
such matters as came in their way, of a nature appropriate to 
its purposes. They are President Everett, Hon. John Davis, 
Hon. Charles Hudson, Samuel Wells, Esq., Lemuel Shattuck, 
Esq., and Hon. John W. Lincoln. Donations worthy of notice 
have also been received from Hon. Nathan Hale, of Boston, 
and the Rev. Samuel May, of Leicester. Seven volumes only 
have been obtained by purchase. 

Pubhcations have been received from the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society of London, from the Geographical Society 
of Paris, from the New Jersey Historical Society, and from 
the N. Y. Lyceum of Natural History. The Merchants 
Magazine, of New York, the Fanner's Monthly Visitor, 
pubHshed at Concord, New Hampshire, the Boston Semi- 
weekly Courier, the Hampshire Gazette, the Christian Watch- 
man, and the Worcester Spy, continue to be regularly sent 
to the Society, by their respective editors without charge, 

A box of manuscripts and papers of the late Joseph Lan- 
caster, founder of the Lancasterian System of education, con- 
sisting of notes of travel, correspondence, educational schemes, 
autobiographical sketches, etc., are among the later contri- 
butions of Dr. Sprague. These, it is believed, will at some 
time be of much interest and value. Accompanying them 
was a huge folio French Bible, obtained from Chester County, 
N. Y., and said to be the pulpit bible brought by the Hugue- 
nots to their settlement at New Rochelle. As a fine edition 



Meeting of October 2j, 1846 513 

with elaborate notes, and commentaries, printed by Louis 
and Daniel Elzevir, in 1669, it has an intrinsic value apart 
from its interesting historical associations. 

Sundry maps, charts, engravings, autographs, and cabinet 
articles, have been derived from various sources. Among 
these is a lithographed portrait of Columbus, from M. Jomard 
of Paris. In one of the Bulletins of the Geographical Society 
of Paris, is an article written by M. Jomard, upon the several 
portraits of Columbus, with reference to the statue it is pro- 
posed to place upon the monument to be erected at Genoa in 
his honor. After discussing the evidences of authenticity in 
favor of various alleged likenesses, he gives the preference to 
one not long since obtained from private possessors for the 
Gallery at Vicenza, and first brought into notice by himself. 
From that the lithograph mentioned was taken. It may or 
may not lessen our confidence in the discovery of M. Jomard, 
to know that he is a devoted and zealous antiquary, a de- 
cipherer of inscriptions, a solver of mysteries, and a detector 
of delicate analogies by profession. Two of his productions 
accompanied the portrait. One a letter upon "Ethnographic 
Inscriptions"; the other "a Second Note" upon an engraved 
stone found in an ancient tumulus near Wheeling, Ohio. In 
the latter essay, he remarks (the passage being translated for 
the convenience of enunciation), "when I apphed myself to the 
study of the Monument at Taunton, Massachusetts, my sur- 
prise was great to observe what analogy of forms there was 
with the inscriptions of those of Fezzan and Atlas; but it is 
much more complete in the little engraved stone of Wheeling. 
I have found at least six common letters." The inscriptions 
to which those of Dighton Rock and Grave Creek are thus 
compared, are, in ancient Libyan characters, such as are 
commonly found upon monuments in the northern part of 
Africa. M. Jomard is a member of the Institute of France, 
late Commissioner of the Government for the pubHcation of 
the description of Egypt, and a librarian of the Geographical 
Section of the Royal Library. It does not appear whether 
his views are sanctioned and adopted by his learned asso- 
ciates, or are left to take their place among the dubious 
subtleties of ingenious speculation. 

It is known that the directors of the British Museum are 
engaged at this time in making an extensive collection of 
American literature for that institution. Mr. Putnam, the 
English partner of the firm of Wiley & Putnam, came to this 



514 American • Antiquarian Society 

country with a commission of some kind in relation to that 
object. After examining the dupHcates in our Library, he 
selected a few books and a considerable number of pamphlets, 
which he proposed to purchase, if the Council would set prices 
upon them. Having been informed that such a mode of 
deahng was objected to, but that the Society would be happy 
to exchange with the directors of the Museum for British 
publications, or to present those he had laid aside without an 
equivalent, he materially reduced the number of his selections. 
Such books and pamphlets as he designated from a list pre- 
pared for the purpose, were carefully packed in a box and 
transmitted to his address, with a letter stating that their 
acceptance on the part of the British Museum was desired by 
the Council of the Antiquarian Society. No reply has yet 
been received. 

Advantage has been taken of the assistance of a skilful 
collector of coins to arrange those belonging to the Society in 
a more scientific manner. There are 2753 in the whole. Of 
these 654 are antiques, mostly in an obscure condition, which 
were not classified. The rest were arranged according to their 
respective dates and countries. It is possible that suitable 
efforts with the proper officers might enable the Society to 
obtain a perfect series of the coinage of our own government, 
an element of history which it is certainly desirable to possess. 

The collections of the Society, generally, it is believed, are in 
good condition, both of preservation and advancement. The 
building itself has been carefully examined, and partially 
repaired upon the roof, and it is presumed that it will need no 
farther preparation for the winter. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

[S. F. Haven, Librarian] 

Since this Report was written, another Bulletin of the 
Geographical Society of Paris has been received. It contains 
a brief communication from M. Jomard, a translation of 
which is here inserted, both on account of its connection with 
the above remarks, and because it manifests the interest which 
the Geographical Society, as well as M. Jomard himself, are 
taking in the subject of American Antiquities. 

"Within a few years, the antiquities of America have 
attracted general attention, and induced many travelers to 
undertake the exploration of places where yet remain the 
monuments of an ancient civilization. The Geographical 



Meeting of October 23, 1846 515 

Society may congratulate itself on having stimulated these 
researches by offering prizes, in the year 1825, for archaeo- 
logical and geographical travels in Central America, a vast 
country, the richest of the New World in vestiges of antiquity. 
Thus our society ought more than all other learned bodies, to 
regard with complacency the discoveries of this kind which 
are daily being developed. It will be learned not without 
interest that a Frenchman has discovered ancient American 
sculptures upon a new point of the continent. The existence 
of ancient remains is known in the virgin forest of Brazil, upon 
the plains of Santa Fe de Bogota, and in the isthmus of Darien, 
not to speak of the great monuments of Mexico, Peru, Guata- 
mala and Yucatan; but till now it has not been known that 
there were these antiquities in the state of Venezuela. A 
young French physician, residing in the country, has dis- 
covered a large sculptured rock on the route from Porto- 
Cabello to Valencia, not far from the village of San Estevan. 
These sculptures were partly buried in the earth. Our coun- 
tryman caused the soil to be removed, and a citizen of the 
United States has taken a drawing which the American Consul 
at Porto Cabello, Mr. Chandler, transmitted to the National 
Institute of the United States. This rock, formed of schistous 
granite, has been regularly dressed and smoothed. It is 
entirely covered with ornaments and hieroglyphic figures, of 
which no one at present knows the key. The lines are an 
inch and a half deep, and three-fourths of an inch broad. 
The figures and characters, so far as one can judge from an 
imperfect drawing, have but Kttle resemblance to those of 
other relics of ancient America. This fact cannot but cor- 
roborate the opinion of those who regard the ancient monu- 
ments of America as the fruit of an indigenous civilization. 
The more we discover of these works anterior to the conquest, 
the more we shall be confirmed in the opinion that American 
population is aboriginal, and that it has, like all other races, 
passed through various successive developments, such as are 
proper to the human species." 



51 6 American Antiquarian Society 

MEETING OF MAY 26, 1847 

The American Antiquarian Society met at the Tremont 
House in Boston on Wednesday, the 26th day of May, a.d., 
1847. 

Hon. Edward Everett, President, in the Chair. 

The Secretary read the Report of the Council to the Society; 
also the Report of the Treasurer, by which it appeared that 
the funds of the Society amounted to the sum of $28,016.37; 
also the Librarian's Report; also the Report of the Committee 
of Publication. 

The Report of the Council was accepted and directed to be 
placed on file. 

Voted, On motion of Professor Greenleaf, whether the 
Society shall celebrate their next anniversary by a festival, be 
referred to the Council, with full power to make any arrange- 
ments and to expend such moneys of the Society as they may 
think proper and as may be necessary for the purpose. 

The President read notice of a vote by the American Acad- 
emiy of Arts and Sciences, passed the 25th day of May current, 
by which that Society invited the American Antiquarian 
Society to use the Academy's rooms for its meetings in Boston 
when it may be convenient and agreeable — 

Whereupon it was voted — 

That this Society with pleasure accept the kind offer and 
will in future avail themselves of the politeness of the Ameri- 
can Academy of Arts and Sciences, and that the thanks of 
this Society be tendered to the Academy therefor. 

Various drawings of the mounds of the Mississippi valley 
and of the materials found in them by the explorations of 
Messrs. Davis and Squier, having been exhibited to the 
Society, and a discussion having been had thereon, and on 
the advantages and propriety of offering to publish an account 
of them before a publication of the Colonial records shall be 
made — It was voted — That the subjects be referred to the 
Council with power to act in the premises as they may deem 
proper. 

Voted, To proceed to ballot for the admission of members. 

Rev. George E. ElHs of Charlestown, and Sylvester Judd, 
Esq., of Northampton, being recommended by the Council for 
admission, were severally balloted for and admitted. 

Voted to dissolve this meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 



Meeting of May 26, 1847 517 

Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society submit 
the following semi-annual Report: 

Since the last Report, nothing has occurred demanding 
special notice. The affairs of the Society have moved on 
hannoniously without any unusual proofs of success, or any 
apparent abatement of public interest. 

The Treasurer's Report, to which we refer, furnishes a 
detailed statement of the condition of the several funds now 
amounting to twenty-eight thousand dollars. The business 
of this department has been so prudently and faithfully con- 
ducted, that no material loss at any time has been sustained. 

The Library has been examined and is in good order. The 
report of the Librarian, giving in detail his proceedings, is 
satisfactory and will be found annexed to this communication. 
This officer devotes his time faithfully to a supervision and 
arrangement of the books, papers, manuscripts, etc., and is 
also assiduous in the numerous other duties which devolve 
upon him. These services, which require no inconsiderable 
labor, are not only promptly performed, but the Society owes 
to the well timed and unremitted exertions of this officer a 
large portion of the increase of books. The number of books 
is now estimated at sixteen thousand five hundred, which are 
not the most choice which could be selected, as they consist 
chiefly of voluntary donations; but there is enough which is 
valuable, scarce or uncommon to attract the attention of 
scholars and to assist the learned in their researches. The 
usefulness of such a general depository is becoming daily more 
apparent, and it is encouraging to see public liberality keeping 
pace with the growth of this conviction. 

The publishing committee will also submit its report by 
which it will appear that the manuscript copy of the early 
Colonial Records, which had been ordered, has been faithfully 
completed by a copyist competent to the task. These records 
constitute the official, authentic history of the initiatory steps 
taken by a little band of resolute, fearless adventurers, who in 
all time to come will occupy the illustrious position of fathers 
and founders, not only of a great nation, but of a more en- 
lightened age in which the freedom of mental and physical 
action is rapidly establishing the dominion of moral power. 
The means by which this has been attained can never fail to 
excite the most profound interest, and there is probably, in 



5i8 American Antiquarian Society 

this respect, no material extant so reliable as these records. 
It now remains for this Society to accomplish what has been 
too long neglected, by placing before the public this mass of 
authentic information, illustrating our origin as well as the 
social, civil and ecclesiastical condition of that age. If this 
shall be done, as is proposed by the committee, with a running 
commentary giving to the material more complete unity and 
coherence as a historic narrative, it cannot fail to be creditable 
to the publishers. 

The Council has also had another subject under considera- 
tion which deserves a brief notice. The first volume of Trans- 
actions is largely devoted to the obscure and dubious history 
of the tumuli of the valley of the Mississippi. The multitude 
of these mounds, their diversity of forms, the magnitude of 
some, their artificial appearance, their unquestioned antiquity, 
the great extent of country in which they are foimd, and the 
obscurity (if they are works of art) which veils their origin, 
have naturally excited a strong desire, that more complete 
explorations should be made, in order, if possible, to clear up 
the mystery which hangs over the enquiry. The interest 
which has at all times been felt in regard to this investigation, 
has received a fresh impulse by communications from Messrs. 
Da\ds and Squier of Chillicothe, Ohio, who represent that 
influence by their love of antiquarian research. They have 
explored several of these mounds and claim to have estab- 
lished the fact that they are works of art. The proofs, as 
they allege, consist in the discovery of sculptured images, 
pieces of wrought metal, structures which they describe as 
altars, with other artificial rehcs. They have forwarded to 
this Society drawings of several of these objects with an 
account of the manner of pursuing the explorations. 

The Council, not being in possession of so full information 
as is desirable, before they extend aid and countenance to 
these researches, will take no decisive steps until they see a 
reasonable promise of creditable results. They are, however, 
by no means indifferent to a subject which is connected with 
an age and a race in regard to which tradition is silent, and 
will promptly favor any piece of investigation which affords 
a fair promise of solving the doubts which exist. 

The Council have also considered the expediency of giving 
a more public character, and a higher degree of interest than 
has been usual, to the next anniversary. These meetings, 
though held upon the anniversary of the discovery made by 



Meeting of May 26, 184^ 519 

Columbus, have usually passed away in a quiet manner, 
almost unknown and unobserved, while other kindred asso- 
ciations have occasionally had Hterary festivals, which have 
drawn into closer union and fellowship the learned from 
different parts of the country. The Council, being impressed 
with the belief that such a meeting will be attended with 
useful results, have thought it advisable to make this early 
conimunication of their views, that if the proposal meets with 
favor, seasonable arrangements may be made for carrying it 
into effect. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

John Davis. 



Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiq. Society in acc't with the Treasurer 
{Residuary Fund) 
Dr. 

For Notes $2100 . 00 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Worcester " " 400 . 00 

Expense Acc't 183 . 39 

Cash on hand 596 . 12 

$3679-51 
Cr. 

Balance of General Fund $157 . 64 

Interest received 3421 . 87 

$3679- SI 

{On acc't of Librarian's Fund.) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

Citizen's Bank Stock 1,100. 00 

Notes 12,040.85 

$13,640.85 
Cr. 

Amo't rec'd May 1831 $11,396.00 

Profit and Loss acc't bal. being int. rec'd more than Libra- 

rarian's salary and expense acc't i,53i • 73 

Int. rec'd in addition 7 . 50 

Cash overpaid on this acc't 705 . 62 

$13,640.85 



520 American Antiquarian Society 

{On acc't of Fund for Antiquarian Research, b'c.) 

Dr. 

Worcester Bank Stock $900 . 00 

Citizen's " " 400.00 

Shawmut " " 2500.00 

Notes 763s . 00 

Cash on hand 150 . 02 

$11,585.02 
Cr. 

By balance Oct. 1846 $6083 .31 

Interest account 5501 .71 

$11,585.02 

Amount of Residuary Fund $ 3,496 . 12 

Librarian's Fund 12,935 • 23 

Fund of $5000.00 11,585.02 

$28,016.37 

Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 
May 12, 1847. 

Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian has to report that, during the last six months, 
the operations of his department have proceeded in their 
usual routine, without the occurrence of any event or circum- 
stance of particular interest or importance. No especial 
means or opportunities for the increase of the* Library and 
collections have been developed, and no donations very large 
in amount, or very rare and valuable in kind, have been re- 
corded. The accession of books and other matters is re- 
spectable, however, in its extent, if less imposing in numbers 
than at some former periods. 

The addition of volumes is one hundred and eighty-seven 
and of pamphlets two hundred and seventy-four. Besides 
these, many valuable files of newspapers, some maps and 
charts, and various relics of ancient time have been received. 

Among the donations only a portion can be particularly 
noticed. These are as follows: 

A contribution from the library of Rev. Sam'l May of 
Leicester, consisting of seven parchment bound volumes, 
folios and quartos of ancient date, partly theological and 



Meeting of May 26, 184^ 521 

partly classical; several smaller volumes, antiques also; files 
of the Christian Register from 1835 to 184 1, files of the Chris- 
tian Monitor, the Cradle of Liberty, the Hangman, and the 
Mass. Temperance Standard, together with many reports of 
societies and miscellaneous pamphlets. 

From the Hbrary of the Hon. Benj. F. Thomas, twenty- two 
volumes and ninety-one pamphlets, of a miscellaneous, but 
useful, character. 

From Hon. Nathan Hale and Rev. Edward E. Hale, files 
of the Journal des Debats of the years of 1842-3-4 and 5, a 
file of the New York Tribune for 1846, a collection of odd 
numbers of newspapers of various foreign nations, and a 
variety of tracts and pamphlets. 

From Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., files of the Boston Weekly 
Advertiser, the Boston Courier, the Worcester Spy, and the 
Worcester Palladium. 

From Hon. John Davis, several useful volvunes, besides 
various maps, charts, and other congressional publications, 
forwarded from Washington. 

From Hon. Charles Hudson, numerous similar publications 
forwarded from Washington, together with a valuable collec- 
tion of the speeches of distinguished members of Congress. 

From Mr. Daniel Bixby, bookseller and publisher at Lowell, 
copies of Goethe's Faust, and the Chronicle of the Cid from 
his own press, and the first works ever published in that city. 

From Lieut. J. M. GilHs, U. S. N., magnetical, meteorologi- 
cal, and astronomical observations, made by him under the 
direction of the Secretary of the Navy. 

From Rev. Sam'l C. Damon, missionary at the Sandwich 
Islands, a file of the Seaman's Friend, and specimens of three 
other newspapers published in those islands. 

From Amos A. Lawrence, Esq., rehcs from remarkable 
places on the shores of the Mediterranean; among which are 
bones from the tomb of Augustus Caesar; also from the same, 
the bones of a British soldier disinterred while making the 
embankment around the monument on Bunker Hill. 

From John Preston, Esq., of New Ipswich, N. H., an ancient 
and curious table, fancifully inlaid, formerly the property 
of Rev. Nehemiah Walter of Roxbury. 

The sources from which single publications have been 
derived are too numerous to mention. A few books, for which 
an immediate want was felt, have been purchased; such as 
Young's Chronicles of Massachusetts, Lowndes' Bibliog- 



52 2 American Antiquarian Society 

rapher's Manual, and Force's Tracts, and a few volumes and 
tracts of minor importance have been attained at a trifling 
expense. 

As the Society possessed no copy of Hakluyt's Collection 
of Voyages and Travels, and only two odd volumes of Purchas' 
Pilgrimage, it was decided important that these ancient author- 
ities should be procured. An order for the first was put into 
the hands of Mr. James Brown, of the firm of Little & Brown, 
who recently sailed for London. It having been ascertained 
that, in the Ubrary of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
there were, besides their complete and handsome set, a number 
of odd volumes of Purchas, more or less perfect, among which 
were two out of the three wanting in our Hbrary, a proposition 
was made to the Historical Society to transfer these to the 
Antiquarian Society in exchange for something of equal value. 
To such an act of courtesy it is beheved no objection will be 
found to exist, whenever the Historical Society, or its officers, 
shall have an opportunity to pass upon it. 

The associations and public institutions from which this 
society has received publications during the past six months 
are: the Royal Geographical Society of Paris, the New Jer- 
sey Historical Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
the Maryland Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Historical 
Society, the American Oriental Society, the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society, and the American Philosophical Society. 
It is unnecessary to state that a mere acknowledgement of 
these courtesies has been the only return it was in the power 
of the Librarian to make. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

Sam'l F. Haven, Librarian. 



Report of the Publishing Committee 

The Publishing Committee have to report : — That the 
Society is now in possession of a complete and beautiful copy 
of the record of the General Court, from its commencement to 
near the close of the year 1641. 

This copy was made by Mr. David Pulsifer, who entered 
with zeal into the spirit of the undertaking and spared no 
pains to render it not only an accurate transcript, but in some 
respects, an imitation of the original. It has since been care- 



Meeting of May 26, 1847 523 

fully revised by the joint labors of Mr. Pulsifer and the Rev. 
Mr. Felt. The whole expense has been about $240. 

Since the manuscript has been in the hands of the Pub- 
Hshing Committee, the necessary researches for explaining 
and illustrating the text have been pursued. A critical ex- 
amination and comparison of documents relating to the 
events, circumstances, motives, etc., connected with the origin 
of the company, the nature of its rights and powers, and the 
condition and character of individuals concerned in it, has 
been deemed the first step in the process of preparation. 
With a clear explanation of these particulars at the outset, 
it is beheved that the interest of the reader may be more 
readily enhsted, and more easily sustained through the progress 
of the work. 

That portion of our history is not free from obscurity. The 
combination of commercial, poKtical and rehgious purposes 
has caused some confusion of ideas, respecting the operations 
of colonial enterprise at that period; and the multiphcation 
of charters, conveying ill-defined rights to unexplored terri- 
tories, not only created conflicting claims that proved em- 
barrassing to the colonists, but have always perplexed the 
historical student. If anything can be done in the way of 
shedding a clearer Hght upon these points, and presenting a 
more distinct and satisfactory view of men and things as 
they were at the first planting of Massachusetts, the pubHca- 
tion of these records seems to afford a favorable opportunity 
for the purpose. If it is too much to expect the development 
of information altogether new, it is still believed that an 
embodiment of even known facts, in a form at once concise 
and embracing all important particulars, is yet a desideratum. 

The charter of the Company of the Massachusetts Bay 
and the Great Patent of New England, are worthy of farther 
elucidation. Bancroft remarks of the latter, that in the his- 
tory of the world it has but one parallel. Yet it is little more 
than a combination of provisions existing in other cotemporary 
charters, especially those previously granted to the Colony 
of Virginia. Some of the proceedings of the Massachusetts 
Company which have been ascribed to puritanical intolerance 
(take for instance the alleged persecution of the Brownes) 
will be found to have been literally sanctioned and provided 
for in the constitution of a commercial corporation. From 
these and other considerations, it may be expedient that a 
certain amount of introductory matter, such as cannot con- 



524 American Antiquarian Society 

veniently be thrown into the form of annotations, should 
precede the commencement of the record. 

For the body of the work a wide field of material for illus- 
tration presents itself. A portion of the ground has already 
been gone over by Mr. Young. After the establishment of 
the government in this country, legislation so far intermingled 
private affairs with those of a public nature, and entered so 
minutely into even domestic relations, that its proceedings 
may be made to constitute a history as complete, as peculiar, 
of the period to which this volume belongs. So rich a riverlet 
of text cannot be without a productive margin, and no Kttle 
judgment and restraint may be required to prevent the work 
from swelling beyond a proper Hmit. 

The means of providing such particulars of personal history 
as the occurrence of influential names, or reference to indi- 
vidual acts, may demand, are likely to be daily increased by 
the growing interest in genealogical inquiries, and especially 
by the researches of a distinguished antiquary at this time 
engaged in such investigations. 

It is evident that the proposed publication must be a work 
of considerable size and is of a kind that cannot advantageously 
be hurried. Under these circumstances, if other matter is 
offered to the attention of the Society, which can be prepared 
for the press more readily, and is better adapted to supply an 
immediate want, most seriously felt, of something to serve 
as a return for the favors of other societies and to relieve this 
institution from the imputation of inactivity and inutiHty, 
the Publishing Committee can see no objection to giving it 
the precedence. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

For the Cormnittee, 
S. F. Haven. 

MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1847 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, held 
at Antiquarian Hall, in Worcester, Oct. 23, 1847. 

Hon. John Davis, Vice President, in the Chair. 

In the absence of the Recording Secretary, Samuel F. Haven 
was chosen Secretary pro tempore. 

The following gentlemen, having been recommended for 
election as members by the Council, were severally balloted 
for and elected, viz.: 



Meeting of October 2j, 1847 525 

Neville B. Craig, Esq., of Pittsburg, Ohio. 

Rev. Edward E. Hale, of Worcester. 

The Report of the Council, with the accompanying Reports 
of the Treasurer and Librarian, having been read and accepted, 
it was Voted to refer the same to the Council for such future 
disposition as might be deemed proper. 

Hon. Thomas Elinnicutt, and Hon. Alfred D. Foster, were 
chosen a committee to audit the report of the Treasurer. 

Voted, To proceed to the election of officers for the year 
ensuing. 

Hon. Thomas Kinnicutt, and Joseph Willard, Esq., were 
chosen a committee of nomination, and reported the following 
list. 

President, Hon. Edward Everett, LL.D. 

tr. D -J 4 ( Hon. John Davis, LL.D. 
Vtce-Prestdents j ^^ ^^^^^ B. Spragxje, D.D. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
John Green, M.D. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Hon. Emory Washburn. 
Hon. Stephen Salisbury. 
Hon. Alfred D. Foster. 

( Jared Sparks, Esq., LL.D., Foreign Correspondence. 
Secretaries \ Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, Domestic Correspondence. 
( Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer, Samuel Jennison, Esq'r. 

( Samuel F. Haven, Esq. 
Committee of Publication < Rev. Joseph B. Felt. 
( Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

A letter from Prof. Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian 
Institution, accompanying a plan of organization of that 
institution, and requesting the opinion of the Society thereon, 
was laid before the meeting by the Librarian. 

Voted, To refer the subject to the Council of this Society .^ 

1 At a meeting of the Council held Oct. 29, 1847, Prof. Henry's letter was 
referred to a committee of three: Hon. John Davis, Hon. Alfred D. Foster and 
Samuel F. Haven. This committee reported on Jan. 31, 1849, when the report 
was accepted and the Librarian instructed to forward a copy to the Secretary 
of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Counsellors 



526 American Antiquarian Society 

Voted, That the Council be instructed to take measures for 
a pubKc meeting and celebration at the next Anniversary. 
Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Att., Sam'l F. Haven, Rec. Sec'y pro tern. 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society submit 
to the corporation the following as their annual Report: 

It is serviceable occasionally to look back and compare the 
past with the present, that we and others may be able to 
determine whether Ve have made that degree of progress 
which was anticipated. 

The charter of this association became a law on the 24th 
day of October, 181 2, arid the grantees met at the Exchange 
Coffee House in Boston on the 19th of November following 
and organized the Society. The petitioners for the Act were 
six in number, all citizens of Worcester, distinguished for their 
intelligence and attainments. In their petition, they speak 
of the objects and purposes of the association in the following 
manner: "Influenced by a desire to contribute to the ad- 
vancement of the arts and sciences and to aid by their indi- 
vidual and united efforts, in collecting and preserving such 
materials as may be useful in marking their progress, not 
only in the United States but in other parts of the globe, and 
wishing also to assist the researches of the future historians 
of our country, we respectfully represent," etc., etc. 

In 1 81 3 the Society adopted in general tenns a plan of 
practical operations whereby it was intended to secure suffi- 
cient aid and patronage from a liberal pubKc to establish a 
useful library and a respectable cabinet to consist chiefly of 
aboriginal curiosities. In 18 14 the venerable President, 
Isaiah Thomas, Esq., who had been chiefly instrumental in 
bringing the Society into existence, carried out the general 
plan in detail, presenting a series of measures for adoption 
which he flattered himself would secure success, and he con- 
cludes his remarks by observing that: — "As our principal 
objects are to collect and preserve, that which demands our 
first attention and on which the prosperity, if not the exist- 
ence, of this institution depends, is to pro\dde means for and 
to erect a suitable edifice for deposits." He then subjoins as 
follows: — "The location of a spot for a library and cabinet 



Meeting of October 2j, 1847 527 

cannot be of so much consequence as their safety. An inland 
situation, experience convinces us, is more secure than a 
town accessible by sea; and, in a small town, they will not 
be so much exposed to destruction by fire as they would be 
in a large one. Many valuable libraries have been destroyed 
by fire in large cities; and many, so placed, are at this time 
greatly exposed to the like fatahty." 

The association had no funds or resources of any kind at 
their command, but commenced their charity, relying upon 
their own energy and the public good-will to mature the 
enterprise. Of the six individuals who petitioned the legis- 
lature for the charter none are now living to enjoy the satis- 
faction which they would not fail to experience in seeing the 
institution firmly and permanently established, but several 
of them survived long enough to do great and lasting service. 

Thirty-five years have now nearly passed away since the 
officers first met in consultation to devise plans for the estab- 
lishment of a library and cabinet. The ways and means were 
the great questions. The plan could not be carried forward 
with the hope of permanent success without funds, and an 
earnest appeal was made to the public to contribute money, 
books and whatever tended to illustrate the history or to 
explain the antiquities of the country. But it failed of success. 
The President had set apart some books which he designed 
for the Society, and opened his private mansion for the 
periodical meetings of the Council, but there was no place of 
deposit, and it was difficult to give to the Society that public 
character and notoriety which its interests demanded. 

But Mr. Thomas was not a man to be discouraged by dis- 
appointment, or to despair because he met with unanticipated 
obstacles. If the public were indifferent in regard to success, 
he was not. If the public could not perceive the merits of the 
plan and give to it a hearty substantial support, he could, for 
we find in the annual report of 181 9, that after regretting the 
total failure of the plans to raise money, the Council observe 
that, "Within the last year our venerable President, in praise 
of whose munificence too much cannot be said, has erected at 
great expense a handsome, commodious and substantial build- 
ing for the use and benefit of the society. It is sufficiently 
large to answer all the purposes of the society for many 
years." In 1820 this building was ready for the use of the 
society. The question then arose, how shall the empty shelves 
be filled with books? Through the hberality of the President, 



528 American Antiquarian Society 

who furnished a large portion, and the strenuous exertions 
of the members, together with donations from other sources 
to a considerable amount, about live thousand volumes were 
collected and the institution then seemed to have acquired 
something like a permanent footing. Its usefulness in col- 
lecting and preserving what was valuable began to be appre- 
ciated. 

About this time, and chiefly through the instrumentahty 
of its great benefactor, the Society issued its first volume of 
Transactions and Collections. Its principal contents consist 
of an account of some of the monumental remains of the west 
from the pen of Caleb Atwater, Mr. Atwater was an in- 
habitant of that part of Ohio where these artificial works in 
nearly all their variety of character existed, and his paper 
contained partly the result of his own observations, and partly 
an account of the explorations of others on whose statements 
he placed reliance. He occasionally indulges in speculations, 
but judiciously confines his remarks chiefly to a description 
of the works, as far as his investigations went. Most of the 
facts stated by him in regard to the magnitude and form of 
the structures, as well as in regard to their contents, have been 
fully corroborated in all that is material by subsequent investi- 
gations. This work was deservedly received with approba- 
tion and has, it is understood, been translated into other 
languages. If it be defective in some respects, as doubtless 
it is, still its merits are great and give a decided preponderance 
to its character. Mr. Atwater labored under the disadvan- 
tages incident to the state of things which then existed. These 
investigations could not be carried on and the facts ascer- 
tained %vithout great labor and considerable expense, and 
although aided in this by the President of this Society, yet 
he necessarily left much which required minute detail for 
others to do. The subject is one of profound interest, as 
these monuments, which are diversified in their character, are 
substantially all that remain of a race of men, who existed 
in very remote ages, and of whom and their works the present 
Tribes of Indians have, as far as we are able to learn, no 
knowledge The proofs which we find of their advances in 
civilization, the extraordinary dimensions of these works, 
their diversity of form, their scientific arrangement, the 
sculpture and implements of stone, metal and earthen ware 
which are found in them, — all awaken curiosity and excite a 
strong desire to know more of a race evidently numerous, and 



Meeting of October 23, 1847 529 

much farther advanced in civiHzation,than the tribes found 
in possession of the country when it was discovered. 

Tumuli and works not materially dissimilar from many of 
these, are known to exist extensively upon the eastern con- 
tinent, but it is desirable to know all the particulars in which 
they coincide, or differ. It is desirable also to ascertain, if 
possible, the uses to which they were appropriated, that we 
may be able to decide whether there is an identity in so many 
particulars, as to justify the inference, that the races had a 
common origin. The work of Mr. Atwater has done much to 
turn the attention of the learned upon these points of enquiry, 
and while there probably will be, as there now is, differences 
of opinion among speculative minds, yet may we not indulge 
the hope, that the facts when fully developed will be so 
decisive as to justify satisfactory conclusions. Others are 
now employed in making researches in which it is understood 
that great care and vigilance is exercised, and new facts may 
be brought to Hght which will remove the mystery which now 
hangs over these remains. 

This volimie was followed by another in 1836, made up also 
of Transactions and Collections. The leading article in this 
is from the pen of Albert Gallatin, LL.D., and is a comparison 
of the vocabularies of the Indian Tribes east of the Rocky 
Mountains and north of Mexico. This topic is kindred to 
that of the monumental remains in illustrating the obscure 
history of this ancient race, as the vocabularies, if of common 
origin, would almost necessarily contain proof of the fact. 
The learned author has, after laborious research, satisfied 
himself that the tribes constitute several groups or famiUes 
of nations which have derived the languages from a common 
origin. Although some proofs of an adinixture from the 
Eastern continent are found, he incHnes to the opinion, from 
the evidence as it stands, as well as from more recent investi- 
gations, that these numerous tribes derive their vocabularies 
from a different origin. But, while in the vocabularies of 
the two continents there is little apparent identity, yet in the 
structure of the languages there is so much affinity, that the 
author considers a common origin as by no means disproved, 
since a separation might have taken place at a period so 
remote that all other proofs of identity, save in the structure 
of the language, are either lost or have become so obscure as 
to escape detection. 

It is, however, to be remembered that this broad field of 



53° American Antiquarian Society 

research has not been fully explored and it remains to be 
seen what further evidence w-ill be brought to hght by future 
investigations. The author has made a good beginning and 
we owe him many thanks for his useful labors contained in 
this work and in subsequent productions upon the same sub- 
ject. It is hardly necessary to add that this volume has been 
well received and will, without doubt, stimulate the spirit 
of enquiry. 

In connection with this subject we take leave to remind 
the society that the Council invited it, at the last semi-annual 
meeting, to consider the expediency of further encouraging 
the examination of the western mounds, and of aiding Messrs. 
Davis and Squier in pubhshing the account of their researches. 
The facts already stated prove sufiSciently the profoimd 
interest which this Society has at all times taken, in investi- 
gating the history of the aboriginal population. The Council 
were not, however, quite prepared to act definitely upon the 
propositions submitted to them, as they had not seen the 
manuscript, and were not as they thought in possession of 
facts sufficient to authorise a step involving so large an ex- 
penditure. Under these circumstances they dispatched the 
Librarian to the scene of operations, that he might confer 
with these gentlemen, and collect infonnation from such 
sources as were open to enquiry or observation and we regret 
that his infirm health since his return has prevented him from 
comnfitting his report to paper.^ It will however be laid 
before the Society as soon as circumstances will permit. We 
are gratified to learn that the work of Messrs. Squier and 
Davis is now in the press and will be published under the 
auspices of the Smithsonian Institute. It will soon appear 
when we shall be able to judge of its merits. The informa- 
tion which we have received, however, favors the belief, that 
it will be a valuable acquisition.^ 

This Society has thus far taken a lead in investigating these 
two important branches of aboriginal liistory, which is highly 
creditable to it, when we consider the means and resources 
which it has had at its command; and we earnestly hope it 

' May 28, 1847. The Council appropriated two hundred dollars for the 
expenses of sending an agent to Ohio; and at a meeting of the Council August i, 
1847 "the Librarian made a report [probably verbal] of the incidents of his 
journej'^ to the West." 

^ The researches of Messrs. Squier and Davis into the aboriginal remains 
of the Mississippi Valley were published in vol. i of the Smithsonian Contri- 
butions to Knowledge, 1848. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1847 531' 

will not slacken its efforts, as the field is wide enough for all 
laborers who have a taste for such pursuits. 

It would give us pleasure to dwell more at large upon this 
topic, but it is not appropriate upon this occasion, and we now 
return to the consideration of our general progress in other 
particulars. 

The building which in 1820 was considered commodious 
and amply sufficient for the Society, has long since been en- 
larged by the addition of two wings, and we now have the 
satisfaction of announcing, that the Library consists of up- 
wards of 17,000 volumes, which have been chiefly derived 
from a great number of benevolent pubHc spirited individuals, 
while our funds amount to over $28,000, securely invested. 

Such is our past history, and such our present condition, 
and if the next thirty-five years shall witness a proportionate 
advance, the Society will take rank among the greatest, most 
permanent, and useful charities of its class. We now have 
many proofs from sources competent to judge of our merits, 
that our character and standing are respectable, and if a more 
extended correspondence were opened with the learned men 
of Europe engaged in kindred pursuits, we should without 
doubt, profit by it. 

In concluding this Report, it is but just in taking this 
satisfactory retrospect of our affairs, to acknowledge our great 
obhgations to the fostering care and unceasing benevolence 
of the founder of the institution. From him came no incon- 
siderable portion of the Kbrary, from him the grounds and 
building, from him the funds, and now that his journey of life 
is finished and his useful labors ended, is it not a duty which 
we owe to ourselves to make some suitable manifestation of 
our gratitude by the erection of a monument to his memory?^ 

1 On July 21, 1846, the Council appointed a committee to inquire and report 
in relation to the erection of a monument in honor of Mr. Thomas. This com- 
mittee reported the following Aug. 26 that the family had no objections to the 
removal of the remains of Mr. Thomas to the Rural cemetery and the erection 
of a monument there, and a committee was appointed to report a plan and 
estimate of expense for such removal and monument. On Oct. 5, 1846 the 
foregoing committee had leave to report at the next semi-annual meeting of 
the Society but there is no record of such a report being made. In July, 1849 
the Secretary was instructed to notify the chairman of the committee that the 
Council wish to have a report of their proceedings, and this seems to have ended 
the matter. The remains of Mr. Thomas had been deposited in the family 
tomb which he erected himself in the Mechanic Street Burial Ground in 1817. 
All the bodies were removed from this Burial Ground in 1878 by the City; the 
Thomas tomb was re-erected in Rural Cemetery and public services at the 
re-interment of Mr. Thomas were held on June 24, 1878, which were attended 
by the fraternities of Freemasons and by this Society. An account of these 
services was published in the Proceedings, Oct. 1878, pp. 1 16-126. 



532 American Antiquarian' Society 

This we are aware has been meditated, but has it not been 
too long delayed? While this institution exists, we know 
his name and fame will be identified with it, but this does not 
exonerate us from the duty of expressing in a suitable manner 
our estimate of his merits. 

John Davis, for the Council. 



Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiq. Society in accH with the Treasurer^ 
Oct. i6, 1842 {Residuary Fund) 
Dr. 

To notes $2625.00 

Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Quinsigamond Bank Stock 200 . 00 

Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash 826 . 59 

Expense acc't since Oct. 1846 366 . 15 

$4817-74 
Cr. 

By balance of this acc't $1 157 . 64 

By int. received 3660. 10 

$4817.74 

The American Antiq. Society in accH with the Treasurer 
{Librarian's Fund) 

Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500.00 

Citizen's Bank Stock 1,100.00 

Notes 11,550.00 

Cash 90 . og 

$13,240.09 
Cr. 

By am't rec'd April 4, 1832 $11,396.00 

Int. rec'd exceeding Librarian's salary and expense 1,844.09 



$13,240.09 



The American Antiq. Society in accH with the Treasurer 

{Fund of jooo dollars) 
Dr. 

To Worcester Bank Stock $900 . 00 

" Citizen's Bank Stock 400.00 

" Shawmut Bank Stock 2500. 00 

" Notes 7760 . 00 

$11 560.00 



Meeting of October 2j, 1847 533 

Cr. 

By balance of this acc't $10,735 . 23 

Cash bal 824 . 77 

$11,560.00 

Residuary Fund $4,451 . 59 

Librarian's Fund 13,240.09 

Fund of $5000 10,735 . 23 



Oct. 1847. 



$28,426.91 
Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 



Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian respectfully presents his semi-annual report 
for October 1847. 

There have been added to the collections of the Society 
since his report of May last, forty-four volumes of books, nine 
hundred and sixty pamphlets, files of the New York Tribune, 
the Boston Atlas, and the Mercantile Journal, a valuable, 
though irregular, collection of foreign newspapers, a map of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a collection of manu- 
scripts bequeathed to the Society, and a few small articles 
for the cabinet. 

The large proportion of pamphlets is owing to a Hberal 
contribution from one of the vice-presidents, Hon. John Davis, 
from whom about nine hundred were received in a single 
deposit. The remainder of the pamphlets and the volumes 
were from sources too various and numerous to be particu- 
larized. The president, Hon. Edward Everett, has been 
careful to collect and forward to the Society for the newspaper 
department, some foreign journals which it is hoped may prove 
the beginning of a class destined to occupy a conspicuous 
place beside those of domestic origin. Hon. John W. Lincoln 
and Rev. Edward E. Hale have made valuable donations to 
this department. The map of Massachusetts was received 
from the office of the Secretary of State. The manuscripts 
referred to, consist of a translation of the New Testament 
from the text of Greisbach, by Dr. Jacob Porter of Plainfield, 
together with numerous translations of French scientific 
essays, a MS. volume of poetical effusions, and portions of a 



534 American Antiquarian Society 

private diary, all having the same authorship, and devised 
by him to the Society. They are understood to have been 
valued by the author at a thousand dollars. 

In addition to the matters above mentioned, the usual 
public documents of the State in an unbound condition have 
been forwarded to the Library. Publications have been 
received from the following institutions, viz., the London 
Geographical Society, the Paris Geographical Society, the 
New York University, the New Jersey Historical Society, and 
the Royal University of Norway at Christiana. 

A large number of pamphlets are in readiness to be trans- 
mitted to the binder. As it is reported that a more economical 
and more convenient mode of preserving such works has been 
introduced at Providence, by Professor Jewett, from foreign 
libraries, it has been deemed expedient to wait for an oppor- 
tunity to judge of its value, before resorting to the usual 
expensive method. 

This brief and general report, rendered so of necessity by 
the illness of the Librarian is respectfully submitted. 

Sam'l F. Haven, Libr'n. 



MEETING OF MAY 31, 1848 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, at the 
rooms of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 
Boston, on Wednesday, May 31st, 1848. 

Hon. Edward Everett, President, in the chair. 

The Report of the Council to the Society was read. 

Also the Treasurer's Report of the state of the finances of 
the Society. 

Also the Report of the Librarian. 

Voted, That the Report of the Council be accepted, and 
referred, with the accompanying papers, to the Council, for 
such disposition as they may deem proper. 

Voted, To present to the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences, copies of the second volume of the Transactions of 
the Society, and of the Catalogue of the Library. 

Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Att. [not signed] 



Meeting of May ji, 1848 535 

Report of the Council 

With the return of the period for holding its semi-annual 
meeting, it becomes the duty of the Council to report to the 
Society its progress and present condition. 

That of its finances will appear from the statement of the 
Treasurer. The Fund of Twelve Thousand Dollars desig- 
nated in the will of the founder "in part for the payment of a 
salary to the Librarian and in part towards the purchase of 
antiquities and books, and for other necessary purposes of the 
institution," after providing for the objects specified to the 
first of April, amounts to $13,256.69. 

The Fund of Five Thousand Dollars, the interest of which 
was to be apphed "in part to the purchasing of books and 
other articles for preservation, and in part to defray the 
expense of employing a proper person to explore the ancient 
fortifications, mounds, etc., in the Western states or other 
parts of America," has accumulated to eleven thousand, two 
hundred and ninety-six dollars and twenty-three cents. 

The remainder of the proceeds of the donation of Dr. 
Thomas, together with the donations of Nath'l Maccarty, 
of five hundred dollars; of Wm. McFarland, of five hundred 
dollars; of Edward D. Bangs, of two hundred dollars; and 
of Christopher G. Champlin, of one hundred dollars, consti- 
tutes the "Reserved Fund," amounts to five thousand and 
four dollars and eighty-six cents. The aggregate, including 
the balance of a debt remaining due in Middlebury, may be 
stated at twenty-nine thousand and eight hundred dollars. 

The Library of the Society in some of its departments has 
ever possessed a peculiar value. Larger libraries exist, but 
none, it is believed, contain so great a proportion of the early 
publications of the country, now become exceedingly rare and 
of great historic interest. The Report of the Librarian fur- 
nishes evidence of its continued increase, principally through 
the HberaKty of members of the Society, of several pubUshers 
of periodical works, and by means of its exchanges with other 
institutions of a historical and scientific character. In con- 
nection with this acknowledgement, it may not be im- 
pertinent to remark, that the members of this Society, unhke 
those of most others in the country, are not liable to taxation; 
that the Society supports itself, and calls for contributions 
not from the abundance of their money, but of their intel- 
lectual or literary stores; and may we not add, that this 



536 American Antiquarian Society 

circumstance imposes on them an obligation to render such 
an equivalent for this exemption, as may be in their power. 
Probably there is no one of them who could not make a dona- 
tion of one or more volumes annually, not already to be found 
in our catalogue, or of some article or manuscript of sufficient 
value to be cared for if in our possession, which in his hands 
may be but little prized, or which he would not unwillingly 
part with. 

Every age produces events which become the subject of 
history. None is so meagre as to be entirely wanting in them. 
To no quarter of a century in our own annals can we refer 
which does not possess to us a high historic interest. The 
actors in the scenes pass away, and the testimony of the living 
witness is to be suppHed by the written memorials they leave 
behind them. These are in forms of every variety, brief and 
familiar, as in private correspondence, or elaborated with care 
for pubHc inspection, or they may consist of the printed sheet, 
the tract of the volume. These, it is committed to our charge 
in connection with other duties to collect and preserve, such 
not only as relate to the times long past, but to the present, 
which is destined also to become the past, and on which our 
successors will look back, as to them an age of antiquity. 
Experience teaches that these historic particles may possess 
a value of which we are at present not aware, and that books 
and pamphlets now the objects of toilsome search and exten- 
sive inquiry, were once so common or so little prized that 
all care for their preservation appeared superfluous. It is 
obvious that were attention to this subject kept alive, a very 
considerable addition would be made from year to 3^ear, which 
we fail to receive not so much from a want of liberality or 
from indifference to its claims, as from unconsciousness of a 
capacity thus to confer a benefit on the Society. 

A few books have been purchased; and in view of the 
means which the Society now possesses, it may be worthy of 
consideration whether an annual appropriation for the more 
extensive purchase of books of intrinsic value and permanent 
interest should not be made. In the charge of a judicious 
committee, an appropriation for this object seems highly 
expedient. 

In connection with this subject, it becomes necessary to 
advert to the location and condition of the Society's building. 
Its limited capacity for affording the desired accommodation 
for all the purposes of the Society, its unfavorable location, 



Meeting of May ji, 1848 537 

when considered as an object of public interest in its exterior 
character, and in regard to the convenience of access, has 
long been regretted. It is still more deserving of considera- 
tion in reference to the entire security and preservation of 
its valuable contents, for although safe from the element 
which most rapidly destroys, they are yet exposed to an 
indefinite, but we fear a certain degree of injury from the 
exceeding dampness which it has been found impracticable 
effectually to prevent, while the health of those who are 
engaged within its walls by ofhcial duty, or from other motives 
is liable to be seriously affected. 

It was a condition of the bequest of Dr. Thomas that, in 
case the Society shall at any time cease to use said building 
for a Hbrary, cabinet, etc., the whole estate shall revert to 
his heirs; a condition which, could the evil which exists have 
been foreseen, would surely never have been imposed, as an 
observance of it directly confhcts with his own cherished 
object, the preservation of the hbrary and other property, 
for which it was designed. Until recently, difficulties have 
existed which seemed to present insuperable obstacles to the 
removal of the restriction thus created by the will. It is now, 
however, anticipated with some degree of confidence that they 
may be overcome, and that ere long the Society may be 
enabled to appropriate the value of this estate toward the 
purchase of a site more favorable, and the erection of a build- 
ing which shall more truly indicate the value of the treasures 
it contains, while it conduces to the embelHshment of the city 
in which it is located. Should the release of the claims of all 
the heirs of Dr. Thomas be obtained, the Society will not be 
without hope that the necessary additional funds may be 
procured, and this most desirable object be accomplished. 

It has been suggested that some change in the constitution 
of the Society in relation to the number and classification of 
its members would be attended with advantage. Those now 
composing the Society are all of one grade, permanent mem- 
bers, partaking equally in all its business transactions, without 
distinction of rank or duty. Their number is limited and it 
is only in cases where death occurs that a vacancy is created. 
Thus it may happen that however desirable may be the elec- 
tion of an individual whose acceptance of membership might 
add dignity and respectability to the Society, and whose 
services might be valuable, the restriction at present existing 
would forbid it. 



538 American Antiquarian Society 

To secure freedom of action in such a case, and to enlarge 
the number of associates whose taste and intelligence qualify 
them to render aid to the cause in which we are engaged, it 
has been proposed that corresponding members be elected of 
such number and in such various sections of the coimtry as 
the interests of the Society may require. It is evident that 
the services of such a class,^ variously located, who should 
be engaged to answer our inquiries, and report periodically 
or otherwise on subjects of interest which should be brought 
to their notice, might be of great value, and perhaps the 
selection might be most judiciously made from the young 
and enterprising, whose zeal and attention might be more 
easily awakened and continued than that of more distinguished 
men, burdened with the variety of their present obligations, 
or wilhng to repose in the enjo>Tnent of honors already ac- 
quired. Such appears to be the poHcy of other similar in- 
stitutions and to have been productive of favorable results. 
Its adoption by this Society seems worthy of consideration. 

With every returning year we find the small number of 
which the Society is composed reduced more or less by the 
decease of its members, and we have now to regret that 
the venerable name of John Quincy Adams is stricken from 
the Kst. In the multitude and variety of his engagements we 
could expect from him no special devotion to the interests of 
this Society, but we had the satisfaction to know that he 
acknowledged its utiKty and desired its success. Repeated 
donations for its library gave evidence of his good will and 
his remembrance of its claims. 

The statements of the Treasurer and of the Librarian are 
submitted as parts of this Report. The Council refer with 
pleasure to the latter as containing suggestions incidentally 
introduced, worthy of attentive consideration by the student 
of aboriginal history, and highly illustrative of the importance 
of careful discrimination between the certain and conjectural, 
which alone can conduce to sure and profitable results in 
antiquarian research. 

We have also to record the decease since the annual meet- 
ing of other distinguished resident members, viz., the Hon. 
James Kent, who died at New York Dec. 13th, the Hon. 
Timothy Pitkin, who died at New Haven, Dec. 19th, the 
Hon. Henry Wheaton, who died at Dorchester, March nth, 
and Professor Finn Magnuson, a foreign member, who died 
at Copenhagen, Dec. 24, 1847.* 

^ The report was written by Samuel Jennison. 



Meeting of May 31, 1848 539 

Treasurer's Report 

The American Antiq. Soc'y in accH with the Treasurer 
{On accH of Librarian's Fund) 

Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500.00 

" Citizens " " 1,100.00 

" Notes "''°?A° 

Bal. of cash acc't •■ ^SOQQ 

$13,256.69 

Cr. 

By am't rec'd May 2 1 , 183 1 to constitute said funds $11 ,396 • 00 

By interest rec'd exceeding the am't of Librarian's salary . i^bo.tig 

$13,256.69 
{On account of Fund of 5000 dollars) 

Dr 

To Worcester Bank Stock $900.00 

" Citizens Bank Stock 40o.oo 

" Shawmut " " ^''f°° 

" Notes 7'76o.oo 

$11,560.00 

Cr. 

By Bal. of this acc't, Oct. 1847 $io,73S- 23 

Interest rec'd since Oct ^a^^- 

Bal. of cash acc't ^'^^■'' 

$11,560.00 
{On account of Residuary Fund) 

r^^^\ .... $2625.00 
To notes "^ ..«X ^ 

To Oxford Bank Stock "^ ?! 

" Quinsigamond Bank Stk 200.00 

" Worcester Bank Stock 40o.oo 

Bal. of cash acc't c68 84. 

Expense acc't ^ 

$5004.86 

By bal. of this acc't Oct. 1847 ^"^!"^o 

Bv cash rec'd on acc't of the Middlebury estate »5 • 42 

By int. acc't 376i.8o 

$5004 . 86 

Fund of $12,000.00 $13,256.69 

Fund of $5000.00 ^V'T/ll 

Residuary Fund _S^oo4^ 

$24,557-78 
Middlebury Mortgage 400.00 

May 29, 1848. Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 



540 American Antiquarian Society 

Librarian's Report. 

Semi-annual Report of the Librarian to the Council of the 
American Antiquarian Society, May 1848: 

The list of additions to the Library since the annual meeting 
in October, exhibits an increase of 279 volumes, and 651 
pamphlets. Files of unbound newspapers, sundry maps and 
charts, and a few cabinet articles, have also been received 
from various sources. 

The books purchased have cost together the sum of $191.50. 
These are Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, 8 vols., $130.00, 
23 vols. American State Papers, folio size, handsomely bound 
in half Russia, $23.00, Brunet's Manuel du Libraire, 5 vols., 
unbound, $11.50, and a copy of Harris's Life of Oglethorpe, 
37^ cents — in all 37 volumes. 

Seventy-three volumes have been made up by the careful 
arrangement of certain classes of pamphlets, chiefly old and 
choice, the several points of size, subjects, authorship, and 
dates, being made to concur in the assortment as far as prac- 
ticable. Two small volumes, and 17 numbers of the North 
American Review, have been obtained by exchange. 

With these exceptions, the additions are donations, derived 
from sources too numerous to mention in every instance. In 
the list of donors are the names of the following members of 
the Society: Rev. J. B. Felt, President Everett, Hon. John 
Davis, Hon. Emory Washburn, Hon. Charles Hudson, Rev. 
Edw. E. Hale, Hon. R. C. Winthrop, S. M. Burnside, Esq., 
Geo. Brinley, Jr., Esq., F. W. Paine, Esq., Hon. A. D. Foster, 
Rev. Alonzo Hill, Hon. Abbott Lawrence. The last named 
gentleman presented a beautiful and costly atlas, containing 
150 maps, foHo size, highly illuminated, published at Amster- 
dam by Charles Allard about A.D. 1700, which is believed to 
have been purchased at a high price expressly for the Society. 

Since this Report was prepared, 15 volumes, of which 14 
were the legislative proceedings at the last session of the senate 
and assembly of the State of New York, have been received 
from Rev. Dr. Sprague of Albany, procured by him for the 
Society from a private source, and of course his personal gift. 

Publications have also been received from the following 
associations, viz: the Lyceum of Natural History, N. Y., 
the Mercantile Library Association, N. Y., the New York 
Historical Society, the Royal Geographical Society of London, 
the American Statistical Association, the New Jersey His- 



Meeting of May 31, 1848 541 

torical Society, the Ethnological Society of Paris, the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philo- 
sophical Society. 

A reUc of much interest was presented by Hon. Lemuel 
WilHams, who brought it from the copper regions of Lake 
Superior. It is a copper knife, found several feet below the 
surface of the ground, and evidently of Indian manufacture 
at some remote period of time. The blade was originally 
3^ inches in length, shaped Hke a case knife, broad at the base 
with a straight back, and tapering on one side to the point, 
the extremity of which is broken off. The handle, 2 inches 
long, is hollow, made by bending round the copper and was 
evidently attached to a stick, perhaps to a lance. The edge 
is bevelled on both sides, as if it had been ground, and bears 
the marks of use; while the metal, which had once been 
smooth and polished, indicates a long exposure to moisture 
and rust. 

It is very desirable to have some means of distinguishing 
between the real and supposed productions of the Aborigines 
of the northern portion of this continent. Respecting the 
sculptured articles so frequently found in the mounds at the 
West, there is much room for doubt. The beautiful specimens 
recently developed, by Messrs. Davis and Squier, from the 
monuments in Ohio, afford little demonstration of the state 
of art among the people whose remains they accompany. It 
is hardly supposable that the skill which they manifest, if 
native, would not also have exerted itself upon the soft rocks 
and stones which abound in those locahties. Sculptures upon 
these are not wanting; but the rude figures cut on the smooth 
side of a rock, and the heads, or masks, found at random 
beneath the soil of the fields, differ widely from the choice 
and sacred deposits in the tombs, although they exhibit a 
remarkable confonnity among themselves. Sculptures firmly 
attached to the quarry, or scattered abroad without design, 
ma}^ safely be considered as evincing the condition of art 
among the people who have inhabited the country, but 
isolated treasures, placed -v^dth care and ceremony in conse- 
crated localities, are more likely to have had a value derived 
from foreign origin and difficult procurements. 

Some of the articles obtained from the mounds in Ohio, 
it is admitted, must have come from Mexico, or from the 
regions bordering on the Gulf. Obsidian, for instance, is a 
volcanic production, not yet found in a more northerly part 



542 American Antiquarian Society 

of the continent. Some of the marine shells, also, indicate the 
locality from whence they came. The forms of the carved 
figures, for the most part point with equal significance to a 
distant and different cUme. The birds and beasts are of 
tropical configuration; and, with a few exceptions, unlike 
such as the state of Ohio, or any state near it, produces. The 
human heads and faces, both in expression and costume, 
correspond precisely with those that are nimierous in Mexico. 

The sculptures referred to are those of dehcate workmanship, 
exhibiting great accuracy of imitation, beauty of finish, in a 
very hard material. We know how abundant such specimens 
are in Mexico, and how skillful the people of that empire were 
in that kind of labor; and it is not difficult to imagine that 
many articles whose material had no intrinsic value would 
spread among the uncivilized tribes of the north, where they 
would, of course, be regarded as treasures, devoted to the use 
of the chiefs, or to sacred purposes. 

The ruder stone ornaments and utensils, invariably, it is 
beheved, found side by side with the others, may safely be 
pronounced the real productions of the mound builders, 
because they are precisely such as our Indians in all parts of 
the country have been accustomed to make since we became 
acquainted with their history. With regard to the metals, 
it has been supposed that the relics from the mounds indicated 
more familiarity with their use than the later races of Indians 
possessed. Still the copper rings and other ornaments, and 
the plummets made up of copper and silver beaten together, 
have shown no skill or practice in working metallic substances. 
The discovery of pure metal in the soil and among the rocks 
near Lake Superior, the result of volcanic or chemical action, 
sufficiently explains the occasional possession of articles of 
that material by the savages, without ascribing .to them a 
knowledge of smelting or working the ore. 

The -copper knife presented by Mr. Williams, was un- 
doubtedly hammered out from the cold metal taken from the 
mines, and it is said there is evidence of considerable excava- 
tions, apparently made for getting access to, or in search of, 
copper. 

Thus we have the manufactured article and the substance 
from which it was wrought in close proximity, under circum- 
stances that obviate the necessity of supposing a higher degree 
of science and mechanical skill than exists among the native 
tribes at the present day. The mines of Lake Superior, like 



Meeting of May ji, 1848 543 

the red pipestone quarries upon the Sioux River, may have 
been held as a neutral ground, where hostile tribes might meet 
in peace for the supply of an article of common necessity. 

Mr. Sqiiier speaks of a mass of native copper, weighing 
23 pounds, from which portions had evidently been cut, which 
was found near Chillicothe, that must have been brought 
from some distant region. When Europeans first landed on 
these shores, copper ornaments -and implements were found 
among the savages, though not in much abundance, every- 
where from Newfoimdland to Florida. These would lose 
their estimation, and cease to be preserved, as soon as richer 
trinkets, and more efficient utensils, were suppHed by the 
whites. 

Although it may be deemed out of place here, an illustration 
will be ventured, in this connection, of the imprudence of 
seeking for remote and theoretical solutions of antiquarian 
phenomena, until it is certain that more recent causes and 
simpler explanations cannot be found. 

In 1838, Dr. Webb, of Providence, communicated to the 
Society of Antiquaries at Copenhagen, an account of a skeleton 
disinterred at Fall River, on whose chest was a breast plate of 
brass, while the waist was encircled by a belt, consisting of 
metallic tubes, in close contact, so as to make a continuous 
cincture; bracelets and arrow heads of brass were also de- 
scribed as found with it. In 1842, Dr. J. V. C. Smith, ad- 
dressed a letter to the Danish Society on the same subject. 
Although this skeleton was buried, according to the Indian 
custom, in a sitting posture, and wrapped in a covering of 
woven bark, the articles of brass or copper caused these gentle- 
men seriously to doubt whether it could be the body of an 
Indian. They even imagined that the skull indicated a 
different race; while the supposition that breast plates, and 
belts of metal, had never been seen among the savages, and 
the certainty that they knew nothing of manufacturing brass, 
a compound metal, went far to confirm that idea. The 
Danish antiquaries were very well disposed to adopt the 
stranger as a Northman, and were able to produce Scandina- 
vian belts, made of copper tubes, precisely similar to that 
found upon his body; and the opinion prevailed that at least 
a descendant of the Norsemen, who settled in Vinland, had 
been discovered. 

Now the existence of metal, reduced from the ore by some 
process of nature, and of course containing whatever com- 



544 American Antiquarian Society 

bined qualities the ore possessed, which the natives were 
accustomed to use, entirely removes the mystery of the com- 
pound metal, or brass, as it was termed. And a passage from 
Brereton's account of Gosnold's voyage, not only dispels all 
remaining obscurity, but perhaps exhibits to us the very 
individual whose undecayed bones were disturbed at Fall 
River before even their muscular covering had wholly turned 
to dust. 

While Gosnold and his men were at the Elizabeth Isles, 
a party of Indians came over from the main land, not im- 
probably from the very place where Fall River now is, in the 
neighborhood of Watuppa Pond; of whom it is said, ''They 
have great store of copper, some very red, and some of a paler 
color; none of them but have chains, ear rings, or collars, of 
this metal; they head some of their arrows herewith, much 
like our broad arrowheads, very workmanly made. Their 
chains are many hollow pieces, cemented together, each piece 
of the bigness of one of our reeds, a finger in length, ten or 
twelve of them together on a string which they wear about 
their necks. Their collars they wear about their bodies, like 
bandehers, a handful broad, all hollow pieces Hke the other, 
but somewhat shorter, four Jiundred pieces in a collar, very 
fine, and evenly set together. Besides these they have large 
drinking cups, made Hke skulls, and other thin plates of 
copper, made much like our boar-spear blades; all which they 
so little esteem, as they offered their fairest collars or chains 
for a knife, or such like trifle; but we seemed little to regard 
it; yet I was desirous to understand where they had such 
store of this metal, and made signs to one of them, with whom 
I was very famihar, who taking a piece of copper in his hand 
made a hole with his finger in the ground, and withal pointed 
to the main from whence they came." 

In Archer's account of the same voyage, the Indians of the 
same neighborhood are described as having pipes steeled 
with copper. "One had hanging about his neck a plate of 
rich copper, in length a foot, in breadth half a foot, for a breast 
plate; the ears of all the rest of pendants of copper." 

Here then, attached to the hving person, and with the 
additional information that the material was taken from the 
earth, are just such articles as were found with the skeleton 
at Fall River; but in regard to their abundance, allowance 
must be made for the exaggerated statements of men with 
imaginations highly excited respecting the supposed produc- 
tions of a new country. 



Meeting of May ji, 1848 545 

It would be an interesting investigation, worthy the atten- 
tion of this Society, to compare the articles of ornament and 
use, known to have been possessed by the Eastern aborigines, 
with those which have been discovered in the Western mounds; 
for the purpose of determining with precision how nearly they 
correspond and in what the superiority of the latter, if superior 
they are, consists. 

A parallel between the arts and monuments of the tribes 
east of the Alleghanies, and those which have excited so much 
wonder at the West, might throw great light on the question 
whether the latter people were really a more constructive race, 
or were led simply by the circumstances of position, numbers, 
permanence of habitation, etc., to the formation of more 
extensive and durable works. During his visit to the West, 
last summer, the Librarian became convinced that the ist 
volume of the Transactions of this Society contains the sub- 
stance of all that has been or is hkely to be developed there; 
while the importance of devoting similar attention to the 
characteristics of the Indian antiquities in the Eastern states, 
was strongly impressed upon his mind. 

There is another point of view in which the relics found at 
Fall River and the narrative of Brereton, taken together, have 
an important significance. These copper ornaments, these 
tubes made into a belt or girdle, these pendents and breast 
plates, are identical in character and construction with rehcs 
of the same substance found beneath the mounds of the 
Mississippi valley. The latter were undoubtedly the valued 
decorations, probably the insignia of rank of the people by 
whom those hitherto mysterious structures were erected. 
And thus the New England savage of only two centuries ago, 
becomes in one striking particular a representative of the arts 
and manners of the mound builders. 

The subject of the preparation of a new Catalogue must 
ere long receive the consideration of the Council. Nothing 
more than a supplement to the former publication will prob- 
ably be deemed essential. Such improvements of method as 
experience has suggested may, nevertheless, be made use of. 
The work is one of much labor, requiring time as well as 
patience and perseverance for its accomphshment. A plan 
of gradual preparation has been adopted at the library of the 
Boston Athenaeum, and also at the College Library, which 
possesses many advantages. A case, or set of drawers, is 
constructed with as many divisions as are necessary, at least 



546 American Antiquarian Society 

one for every letter of the alphabet ; and to these are adapted 
cards, or slips of thick paper, on which the titles of books are 
to be written. Then these cases will compose a catalogue, 
which is susceptible of any form of arrangement, and of any 
addition or variation. The reverse of the card furnishes a 
place for the insertion of notes or references; and the titles 
can always be located in their proper order, at whatsoever 
time the book may be received or the title entered. 

A mode of arranging and preserving pamphlets has also 
come into use in some libraries, particularly at Providence,^ 
which deserves the attention of the Council. Boxes of thick 
pasteboard in the form of books are contrived, which stand 
upon the shelves, with titles on their backs, Hke volumes. 
In these are kept pamphlets not ready for the binder, or such 
as, for any reason, it may be desirable to retain in a separate 
condition. Besides the convenience of this system, as an 
important aid to classification, it is less expensive than bind- 
ing; inasmuch as the cover costs not more than a shilHng, 
and may be made to contain a dozen or more pamphlets. 

The want of farther accommodations for books and pam- 
phlets has already been brought to the notice of the Council. 
In the prospect, however distant, of a better building in a bet- 
ter position, economy is of course to be studied in such arrange- 
ments. Yet some alteration that will afford more space for 
shelves, and other faciUties for the disposal of increasing collec- 
tions, seems to be requisite. In regard to one of the prominent 
evils existing in the present edifice, the Librarian has occasion 
to speak with a degree of emphasis. The excessive dampness 
that pervades the entire structure is deleterious to everything 
that is exposed to its influence. He has reason to beheve that 
his own health has thus been gradually but seriously im- 
paired. Great caution has continually to be exercised by 
himself, and even to be inculcated upon those who casually 
visit the rooms. It is therefore a matter of congratulation 
that the measures which have been adopted by the Council 
to obtain an unrestricted title to the estate, are likely to prove 
successful. The right of warming the building in such way 
as they should deem expedient, would of itself be a great 
acquisition; but the power of discretionary disposal, it is 
hoped will ultimately result in higher and more permanent 
advantages. 

' This was at. the Brown University Library. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1848 547 

The thanks of the Society are due to several editors whose 
publications have for years been regularly received by the 
Society, as they were issued, without charge. These are 
the Boston Semi-weekly Courier, the Christian Watchman, 
the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, and the Merchant's Magazine. 
Coming periodically they do not receive the acknowledgement 
returned for other donations, while they may be thought to 
deserve something more. 

[Samuel F. Haven, Librarian.] 



MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 1848 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, held at 
Antiquarian Hall, in Worcester, on Monday, October 23d, 
1848. 

There being neither President or Vice-President present, 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., was appointed to the chair. 

The Secretary read the record of the proceedings of the 
last meeting. 

The Report of the Council to the Society was read; also the 
Report of the Librarian; also the Report of the Treasurer.^ 

Voted, That the Report of the Coimcil, with the Report of 
the Librarian, be referred to the Council, for such action as 
they may think proper to take thereon; and that the Report 
of the Treasurer be referred to a committee for examination, 
and that they report to the Council. 

Voted, That Thomas Kinnicutt, and Alfred D. Foster, be a 
committee to audit the Treasurer's account. 

S. F. Haven, Esq., Librarian, read a Report of the Publish- 
ing Committee. 

Voted, To refer the Report of the Publishing Committee to 
the Council, with the authority to direct the pubHcation 
therein mentioned, if they see fit, in such manner, and at such 
time as they may judge proper. 

Voted, To choose a committee to nominate a list of officers 
for the year ensuing. Chose, Rev. Mr. Hill, Rev. Mr. Hale, 
and Col. John W. Lincoln, who reported: 

^ The treasurer's report is missing from the files. 



548 American Antiquarian Society 

For President, Hon Edward Everett, LL.D. 

Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D. 
Hon. James C. Merrill. 
Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
Counsellors \ Frederick W. Paine, Esq. 
John Green, M.D. 
Joseph Willard, Esq. 
Hon. Emory Washburn. 
Hon. Stephen Salisbury. 
Hon. Alfred D. Foster. 

( Jared Sparks, Esq., LL.D., of Foreign Correspondence. 
Secretaries < Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, of Domestic Correspondence. 
' Hon. Rejoice Newton, Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer, Samuel Jennison, Esq. 

( Samuel F. Haven, Esq. 
Committee of Publication < Samuel Jennison, Esq. 
J Rev. Joseph B. Felt. 

Who were voted for, and chosen. 
Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, 

Recording Sec'y. 



Report of the Council 

To the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Council, in making this semi-annual Report, in con- 
formity with its by-laws, find but very Httle to do, because, 
during the last six months, they could only "pursue the even 
tenor of their way," making sure, though slow, gains in 
accomplishing the important purposes of our institution. 
The present condition of the Library, the cabinet and the 
funds, comprises the most interesting subjects of considera- 
tion, inasmuch as the Library and cabinet show the accumu- 
lation, made of whatever is most valuable to the historians of 
our country. 

The accompanying reports of the two officers, to whom 
these departments are severally entrusted, furnish full and 
gratifying information on these topics. It will be seen that 
the cash funds exceed $29,000, an amount greater than would 
be desirable, and greater than would have existed, if the 



Meeting of October 23, 1848 549 

Council had found objects of a character sufficiently imposing 
to warrant a more liberal expenditure ; but they have deemed 
it their duty rather to suffer the funds to increase, than to 
apply them to objects of mere fanciful utiKty. They feel 
confident that opportunities will be presented from time to 
time, of using their pecuniary resources to very useful ends 
in the cause of antiquarian learning. 

Since the last meeting of the Society, application has been 
made to the council by Henry Stevens, Esq., to patronize a 
work in which he is engaged, called the " BibHographia 
Americana," and which he proposes to submit for publication 
and distribution to the Smithsonian Institution.^ The enter- 
prise seems to have met the approbation and encouragement 
of that learned association, and of many other scientific bodies, 
and also of distinguished individuals in our country. A 
prospectus of the work, and conditions and terms, upon which 
Mr. Stevens undertakes it, accompanies this report, by which 
it will be seen, as the council beheve, that a subscription they 
have made for five copies, will be a safe and prudent applica- 
tion of the money they will cost. Long messages, long ad- 
dresses, long speeches, and long reports have been long subjects 
of complaint in the community. The Council have pleasure 
in believing, that while by the brevity of this Report, they 
avoid this ground of complaint, they do not, in this respect, 
fail in their duty to the society. 

Respectfully submitted,^ 
Worcester, October 23, 1848. 



Librarian's Report 

To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society: 

The Librarian has little of importance to communicate at 
this return of the usual period for presenting a report. 

The record exhibits an addition to the Library of sixty 
volumes and about fifty pamphlets. For some reason the 

^ The Council, Aug. 30, 1848, voted "To subscribe the sum of $250.00 
towards the expense of preparing a work entitled ' Bibliographia Americana' 
by Mr. Henry Stevens, to be paid according to the terms of Mr. Stevens' 
Prospectus, when the work shall be completed and accepted for pubUcation 
by the Smithsonian Institution." A copy of the Prospectus is preserved in 
the Society's archives. It is to be regretted that Mr. Stevens did not carry 
out this work, although he preserved much of his bibliographical knowledge 
in his various printed works. 

^ The report is in the handwriting of Samuel M. Burnside. 



550 American Antiquarian Society 

proportion of the latter is uncommonly small; perhaps because 
circumstances have prevented the customary exertions for 
collecting that class of productions. 

Some valuable files of newspapers have been received; 
particularly a continuation of the Connecticut Courant 
from Miss Mary C. Gay of Suffield, Conn. The father of 
this lady began many years ago; to preserve the numbers of 
that ancient journal for the Society, and since his death in 
1844 his daughter has laid them aside with great care and 
neatness, for the same object. The value of this service, 
which she has kindly promised to prolong, is to be estimated 
by the fact that our series now extends from the year 1775 
to the present time; affording materials to the historian, of 
inestimable utility, for a period of sixty-one years. 

Sundry maps and charts have also been contributed, chiefly 
from members of Congress. 

Hon. Charles Hudson, Hon. Edward Everett, Hon. Alfred 
D. Foster, Rev. Edward E. Hale, Rev. Dr. Sprague, Hon. 
Robert C. Winthrop, Hon. John Da\ds, and Samuel Jennison, 
Esq., members of the Society, are in the list of contributors. 

The American Philosophical Society, the Massachusetts 
Peace Society, the Royal Geographical Society of London, 
and the New Jersey Historical Society, have forwarded their 
publications. 

By a mixed transaction, partly in the way of exchange, and 
partly by purchase, some deficiences in sets of valuable works 
have been supplied at a small expense to the Society. Two 
sets of the publications of the Society were disposed of in 
this bargain. 

In the uncertainty that existed with regard to the number 
of copies of the two volumes of the Archaeologia that remained 
on hand, the Council, sometime since, deemed it advisable to 
be cautious respecting the distribution of them. But since 
Mr. Drake has returned those in his possession, the supply 
has proved to be greater than was anticipated. One hundred 
and eighty-three copies of the second volume of the Archseo- 
logia, and forty- three volumes of the Catalogue, have been 
returned by him to the Society. He has failed in business, 
and a small balance against him appears in the account he has 
rendered of debt and credit between himself and the Society. 
Of the first volume of the Archceologia there are one hundred 
and fifty bound copies in the library, besides some parcels in 
sheets, that have long been stored in the garret. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1848 551 

The Librarian has taken advantage of a favorable oppor- 
tunity to procure a few handsome English editions of modern 
works at a very moderate price. They are such as will always 
be an ornament to the shelves, and of permanent intrinsic 
value. 

It has been found every autumn for several years, that the 
zinc gutters on the roof of the building have been cracked by 
the changes of temperature during the season, so that the 
first severe rain, after the cold weather has set in, has flooded 
some of the upper rooms. As yet the only repairs have been 
with the soldering iron, which has answered a temporary 
purpose. The fragile condition of the zinc has, however, 
indicated that such imperfect reparation would not serve 
much longer. In other respects the building seems to be as 
well prepared for winter as usual. 

All which is respectfully submitted, 

S. F. Haven. 
Oct. 1848. 



Report of the Publishing Committee 

The Publishing Committee respectfully present the follow- 
ing report: 

The only matter that has been submitted to their care, 
with a view to pubhcation, is the original record of the 
governor and company of Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- 
land, as contained in the first volume of the earliest archives 
of this Commonwealth. This portion of the Record covered 
a period of about twelve years, extending from the commence- 
ment of the Company's proceedings to near the close of the 
year 1641. The manuscript itself, with the necessary anno- 
tations, if printed in a style corresponding to that of Mr. Ban- 
croft's History, would make a volume of about six hundred 
8vo. pages. 

The Ms. commences with a series of imperfect memoranda, 
in the handwriting of John Washborne, the first secretary. 
They seem to have been made prior to his election, and con- 
stituted, perhaps, the substance of the doings of the Company 
at their earlier meetings, and through the carelessness or in- 
competency of Washborne were left in an incomplete condi- 
^on. Although duly chosen secretary, his records continued 
to be unmethodical and obscure, and he was soon superseded, 



552 American Antiquarian Society 

at the first regular election under the charter, whence the 
record is formal and comparatively distinct. 

The want of a proper begirming to the transcript of pro- 
ceedings destined to acquire so much importance, is a mis- 
fortune, which, at this day, admits of no adequate remedy; 
and it only remains to lessen the obscurity thereby occasioned, 
by means of such information as can be gathered from cotem- 
porary documents. 

The manner in which the scheme of colonization at Massa- 
chusetts Bay grew out of other and different undertakings, is, 
perhaps, a reason why the details of its inception and primitive 
proceedings have not been so minutely and carefully recorded 
as could be wished. First, an association of indi\iduals, of 
various occupations, engaged in a joint adventure for the 
taking of fish on the coast. The next step was the estabhsh- 
ment of a station on the shore, at Cape Ann, for drying and 
curing the cargoes and collecting provisions. This continued 
a year or two, but the fishing business proving unprofitable, 
it was about to be abandoned and the association was on the 
point of being dissolved, when a few of the men employed at 
the station expressed a desire to remain in the country if they 
could be helped to make a plantation at a more favorable 
place. Whereupon some pious members of the Company 
conceived the idea of keeping ahve the existing combination, 
and kindling from the ashes of commercial partnership a spirit 
of religious colonization. Thus far their transactions appear 
to have been conducted without authority from the govern- 
ment, and without the possession of any proprietary rights. 
The fishing trade even within the bays of New England, had 
become a common mercantile enterprise, at first resisted by 
the Plymouth Company, and then submitted to through 
necessity. But uniting with a new set of men for the purpose, 
they now purchase a territory from the chartered proprietors 
of the soil, and solicit a confirmatory patent from the crown. 
Having obtained the rights and powers thus conveyed, the 
views of the associates are rapidly enlarged, their merely com- 
mercial partners are induced to transfer their interests, and 
the grand elements of a new civil community are developed. 

It will be perceived that, by way of preparation for an 
intelligent perusal of the proceedings of the parties engaged 
in this enterprise, a preliminary narrative is requisite. Not 
only the circumstances under which the Company was formed 
need to be stated, but the nature and source of its rights and 



Meeting of October 2j, 1848 553 

powers should be traced, and as clear an exhibition as possible 
given of the character, position, and purposes, of the individ- 
uals concerned. It is believed that precisely such a narra- 
tion as the case demands is no where to be met with in existing 
histories. We find chronological accounts of the numerous 
attempts that were made to settle the country; and a more 
particular detail of the acts and measures that proved success- 
ful; but it must be in the experience of every reader to feel, 
that out of reverences to conflicting patents, adverse claims of 
proprietary rights, and mixed up and irregular enterprises, 
no very clear ideas have sprung respecting the descent of title 
and prerogatives from the first possessors to the settlers in 
Massachusetts, or the chain of events that constitute the 
history of the Company as distinguished from the history 
of the country. 

An introduction containing the necessary information, in 
a concise form, separated from that which is not pertinent to 
the object in view, would be appropriate to the proposed 
publication. 

It may be imagined that the recent work of Dr. Young, the 
"Chronicles of Massachusetts," has obviated the necessity 
of this labor, or would affect its value by detracting from its 
originality. But such is not altogether the case. His work 
is simply a compilation of documents, from which the materials 
of a narrative might in part be drawn; but besides compre- 
hending only a portion of the desired information, the matter, 
though illustrated by valuable notes, is neither digested nor 
condensed. For example, the volume begins with an extract 
from "The Planter's Plea," a scarce pamphlet, written, it is 
beheved by Rev. John White, one of the earhest friends of 
the enterprise, for the purpose of exhibiting "the causes 
moving such as have undertaken a plantation in New Eng- 
land," and "for the satisfaction of those that question 
the lawfulness of the action." It contains an account of 
the operations in which he was personally concerned. The 
second article is an extract from Hubbard's History of New 
England; and the facts narrated are supposed to have been 
derived from Roger Conant, who, being already in the coun- 
try, was employed by the Company in some of their first 
operations here. The third article is an extract from the 
Record which the Society proposes to print. 

While these documents are consecutive as to the subject 
matter, and the order of events, and were therefore selected 



554 American Antiquarian Society 

and placed together as they stand, the two that serve as intro- 
ductory to the last do not furnish quite the degree, if they do 
the kind, of preparation which an ordinary reader would wish 
before undertaking to follow the record of the legislation of an 
incipient commonwealth. 

The principal difficulty on the way of avoiding encroachment 
upon ground to which Dr. Young has the claim of prior occu- 
pancy is presented by the notes of explanation and illustration 
to be appended to the text of the record. The extract taken 
by him does not preserve the spelHng of the original, and in 
other respects is not so faithful a transcript as the Society's 
copy; but the labor of annotation has been most elaborately 
performed; and the question arises, how shall that portion of 
the work be prepared, without exposure to the imputation 
of plagiarizing from him. 

The annotations of Dr. Young may be classed under three 
heads, viz., biographical sketches of persons connected with 
the proceedings recorded, explanatory references to historical 
facts, and definitions of obscure terms or expressions. In 
regard to these, the rule is plain, that such as are taken from 
famihar works, or have been previously employed by other 
writers, are conunon property,, which all persons engaged in 
similar researches may quote with equal freedom; while 
those that are original with the author, and such as are the 
result of pecuHar investigation, must of course be duly 
acknowledged as his. It is believed that by observing this 
distinction, and arranging differently our biographical illustra- 
tions for this portion of the work, the appearance of following 
too closely another's footsteps may be avoided, and a satis- 
factory independence be maintained. 

It will be remembered that the portion of the record pub- 
lished by him is confined to the space of a single year (the year 
of preparation, before the charter was brought to this country 
by Winthrop) and thus can embrace but a limited number of 
individuals, and a limited series of events or measures, to be 
noticed after a sketch has been given of the origin and forma- 
tion of the Company. Dr. Young has scattered his biographi- 
cal notices along the text. And if a list of persons engaged 
in the enterprise should precede the record, with such infor- 
mation respecting their private history as can be collected, 
brought together more in the manner adopted by Hutchinson, 
so far as an important portion of the notes is concerned, there 
need be no appearance of imitation. 



Meeting of October 2j, 1848 555 

Such an introduction as has been proposed would also 
comprehend other facts which need not be repeated in the 
body of the work, but simply referred to when necessary to 
illustrate the text; and thus another class of annotations 
would be partly provided for. The balance of notes and 
marginal commentaries may or may not, correspond with 
those in the Chronicles of Massachusetts and the source from 
whence they are derived would of course receive the proper 
credit. 

It was suggested at the last meeting of the Society that the 
pubHcation of the record should be made in parts. Such a 
method is recommended by the nature of the work which 
is not adapted altogether to continuous and uninterrupted 
perusal. It is also recommended by the fact that peculiar 
care and caution are required both in the preparation and in 
the printing. By issuing a portion at a time the chances of 
error are lessened, while the opportunities for improvement 
and correction that are afforded constitute an important 
consideration. It is also according to the custom of other 
societies not to wait for the compilation of a perfect volume 
in the publication of their transactions, but to unite with a 
certain number of sheets of a larger work any incidental 
matters they may wish to print in the form of a series. 

If the Society shall determine to adopt this plan, it will 
probably be deemed expedient to include in the first part all 
that precedes the arrival of the government in this country. 
It is estimated that this, with the collateral matter, will occupy 
not less than two hundred pages. Some engraved illustration 
will perhaps be deemed a desirable accompaniment, and the 
committee would suggest that an outline map of New England 
colored in a way to exhibit the limits of those various grants 
to different companies and individuals which for a time per- 
plexed the titles to territories here, would be both useful and 
appropriate. These claims were among the earliest subjects 
of legislation; they are not easily understood without a dia- 
gram, and a lucid exposition of their nature and extent, and 
their final adjustment, would be a most valuable contribution 
to history. 

The Society has other means of illustration at its command 
among which may be mentioned a likeness of Winthrop from 
their own original portrait, and a fac-simile of the signatures 
of the early ministers in New England attached to the famous 
letter to Dury. These may quite as properly be connected 



556 American Antiquarian Society 

with a subsequent publication. The first is a different repre- 
sentation of Winthrop from any existing engravings, and was 
probably taken at a later period of life. Both have the merit 
of being the pecuUar property of the Society. 

The committee are prepared to enter into arrangements for 
publication in the form suggested, if so directed by the Society, 
and no farther delay need be contemplated than will neces- 
sarily attend the mechanical execution of the work. 

For the Committee, 

S. F. Haven. 
Oct. 1848. 



MEETING OF MAY 30, 1849 

At a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, at the 
rooms of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, May 
30th, 1849. 

Hon. Edward Everett, President, in the chair. 

The proceedings of the last meeting were read. 

The Report of the Council was read, and referred back to 
the Council for such disposition as they should deem proper. 

The Report of the Treasurer was read, and referred to an 
auditing committee, viz., Hon. Thomas Kinnicutt, and Hon. 
Alfred D. Foster. 

The Report of the Librarian was read, and referred to the 
Council. 

The chairman of the Publishing Committee, made a verbal 
report, stating that a contract had been made for the printing 
of "the Records of the Company of Massachusetts Bay," and 
that the first part of the work would be put to press without 
delay.^ 

The subject of illustrations for the volimie was referred to 
the Council. 

Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Att., Rejoice Newton, Rec'g Secretary. 

^ These records were printed in 1850 in a separate pamphlet, which was 
afterwards included in vol. 3 of the Transactions, pubUshed in 1857. 



Meeting of May jo, 1849 557 



Report of the Council 

The Council of the American Antiquarian Society respect- 
fully submit their semi-annual Report: 

Since our last meeting, the Society has been steadily, but 
not with unusual activity, pushing its objects, gathering up 
the memorials of the past and passing time for the use and 
instruction of the future. Its operations are quiet and unpre- 
tending. Its walk is in the old and beaten paths. It has 
therefore little of the novelty and freshness which our time 
loves so well. The freshness which delights the eye of the 
antiquary is that of the moss on the tomb-stone or the ivy on 
the wall. But the Society has an advantage over many more 
busthng and active associations. A well defined object and 
one that can be kept distinctly in view — the collection and 
preservation of the materials of American history. 

Restricting with a wise frugahty its resources to the attain- 
ment of this end its success will be certain. By multiplying 
the objects of its pursuit, it may fail of accomplishing any 
useful result. This object will give an ample field for its 
labors and will require all its resources. Not a book, pam- 
phlet, newspaper or handbill even is published, but shows, 
more or less, the force and pressure of the time. Works of a 
fleeting and temporary character may often give the liveliest 
impression of the age, of its habits of thought and of life. The 
most stupid work that falls lifeless from the press is a part 
of the history of the time, the fruit if not the instrument of 
its culture. The advertisements of the newspaper are a daily 
record of our manners, of our social economy, of our way of 
life. The records of our towns, parishes and school districts 
furnish the most accurate and valuable materials for our 
poHtical history. They are daguerreotypes of the Republic 
in which its every feature and lineament is drawn with a 
pencil of light. 

The history that is hereafter to be written is not to be 
merely the history of government and of politics, but the 
history of man in all his relations and interests, the history of 
science, of art, of religion, of social and domestic life. And 
such history can be drawn only from sources almost infinite 
in variety and extent. The historian's field will be the world, 
all knowledge his province. It is difficult to say what material 



558 American Antiquarian Society 

he will most need. He must gather up all the fragments, that 
nothing be lost. What variety and amount of material were 
requisite for the preparation of Mr. Macaulay's admirable 
chapter on the state of England, at the close of the reign of 
Charles the 2nd. It would require years of careful labor and 
research to collect the materials for a full and faithful account 
of the state of our own country at the close of the War of the 
Revolution. While all aroimd us is subject to change, which 
men too often mistake for progress, we may be content to 
stand super antiquarias, hoarding the wisdom of the old time 
for the culture of the new. 

By the return of the Treasurer, which is heremth sub- 
mitted, and made part of this Report, it appears that the 
funds of the Society in his hands on the seventh of the present 
month, amount to thirty thousand two hundred and ninety- 
four dollars and twenty- two cents. 

The Report of the Librarian, also herewith submitted, shows 
that since our meeting in October, 143 volumes, 614 pam- 
phlets and materials for twenty volumes of newspapers, have 
been added to the collections of the Society. 

The Council would call the attention of the Society to the 
condition of the Antiquarian Hall. The building, as the 
Society is aware, is but illy fitted for the purpose of a Hbrary. 
The distribution of the books into some half dozen different 
apartments, renders the use of the Library less convenient and 
its appearance less imposing and attractive. The building 
is not fireproof and being near to the railroad depot and to a 
large school house is exposed to loss by fire. The dampness 
of the rooms is such as to be very detrimental to the books 
and papers and to render resort to the Library, except at 
midsummer, uncomfortable and unhealthy. The building 
itself is going to decay; the sills and floors rotting, the walls 
cracking and the plastering becoming loose and falling. 
Large expense must be incurred in another attempt to drain 
the ground and to put the building in thorough repair or a 
new lot, etc., procured and a new building erected. The only 
difficulty with the latter, which is undoubtedly the %viser 
course, grows out of the will of the grantor of the estate, by 
a pro\dsion of which the Hall, when it ceases to be used for 
the purposes of the library, reverts to certain of the heirs of 
the testator. To remove this difliculty, releases from heirs 
who would be entitled to one half of the estate have already 
been obtained and may, it is believed, be procured from the 



Meeting of May 30, 1849 559 

rest. The sale of the land and building would go far towards 
the expense of the new purchase and structure. 
All which is respectfully submitted. 

For the committee of the Council. 

Benj. F. Thomas, Chr. 



Treasurer's Report 

American Antiq. Society in acc't with the Treasurer 

(Residuary Fund) 
Dr. 

To notes $2925 .00 

" Oxford Bank Stock 400 . 00 

" Quinsigamond Bank Stock 600. 00 

" Worcester Bank Stock 400 . 00 

Cash 48 . 61 

14373- 61 

Cr. 
By Bal. of this acc't being amount of principal, more than 

expenses paid $365 . 31 

By int. rec'd 4008 . 30 

$4373-61 
(On acc't of Fund of $12,000.00) 
Dr. 

To Blackstone Bank Stock $500 . 00 

" Citizens Bank Stock 1 100. 00 

" Fitchburg " " 600.00 

Notes 10,750 . 00 

" 300 . 00 

Cash 31-64 

$13,281.64 
Cr. 

By am't rec'd May 21, 1831 $11,396.00 

Int. rec'd exceeding Librarian's Salary 1885 .64 

$13,281.64 
{On acc't of Fund of $5000) 
Dr. 

To Worcester Bank Stock $900.00 

" Citizens " " 400 . 00 

" Shawmut " " 2500.00 

" Worcester & Nashua Rail Rd. Bond ($500) 428 . 75 

To notes 7900 . 00 

Cash 10. 22 



$12,138.97 



560 American Antiquarian Society 

Cr. 

By Bal. of acc't in Oct. 1848 $11,707.63 

By int. rec'd since Oct. 1848 431 -34 

$12,138.97 

Residuary Fund $4373 • 61 

Fund of $i2,cxx) 13,281.64 

Fund of $5000 12,138.97 

Due on acc't of Middlebury estate 500 . 00 

$30,294.22 
May 7, 1849. Sam'l Jennison, Treas. 



Librarian's Report 
To the Council of the American Antiquarian Society : 

The Librarian presents his usual statistical summary for 
the period that has elapsed since the last meeting of the 
Society. 

In this interval 143 volumes and 614 pamphlets have been 
added to the Library. Most of the books are valuable, many 
of them handsome copies of important works. Fifty-seven 
volumes have been purchased at low rates, from auctions in 
New York, being chiefly Enghsh editions sold at a great 
deduction from customary prices. 

The rest of the volumes, and all the pamphlets, are dona- 
tions from various sources. There have also been presented 
files of the following newspapers, which with a few exceptions 
are continuations of former series preserved by individuals 
for the Society, viz., the Spy, the .^gis, and the Palladium, 
of Worcester; the Atlas, the Mercantile Journal, the Adver- 
tiser, the Courier and the Christian Register, of Boston; the 
Tribune, the Observer, and the Courier des Etats Unis, of 
New York; the Providence Farmers' and Mechanics' Journal, 
the Washington Union, the Congressional Globe and appendix, 
the Sunday School Journal, and the London Sunday Times. 
With the exception of the last named, these were unbound, and 
after being made as perfect as possible by supplying missing 
numbers, whenever practicable, they have been put into neat 
and substantial binding. 

Some imperfect files of past years have also been completed 
and bound. The means of making out of old newspapers a 



Meeting of May jo, 184Q 561 

series sujQ&ciently perfect to justify their being formed into 
volumes, are now and then unexpectedly obtained — a fact 
that illustrates the expediency of preserving the mass of 
fragmentary collections that now nearly fill the attic of the 
building. Yet ^'revocare gradum hie labor hoc opus esV may 
generally be said with truth of newspapers, even after but a 
few years have gone by since the period of their publication. 

Specimen numbers of the Oregon Spectator, the Oregon 
Free Press, and the Valparaiso Neighbor, have been received, 
destined in time to acquire an interest similar to that which 
is attached to the earher copies of the Boston News Letter. 

Among the matters recently accumulated, to which time 
will give dignity and importance, is a collection of handbills, 
business cards, visiting cards, etc., which a member of the 
Society had the providence to lay aside for the future anti- 
quary; and also two Uttle volimies that have been made up 
from answers to the invitations issued by the managers of 
the Inauguration Ball in Worcester on the 5th of March last. 
Some original forms of phraseology, and very independent 
varieties of syntax, among the latter, will be likely to amuse, 
if they do not edify posterity. 

The binding of pamphlets has been suspended to await the 
result of an experiment that has proved satisfactory in other 
libraries and which we have just received the means of trying 
ourselves. A couple of hundred pamphlet boxes, such as are 
used in the Hbrary of Brown University, where they were 
introduced by Professor Jewett, now Hbrarian of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, were ordered from Providence. They are 
made of stiff pasteboard in the size and shape of a thick 
royal 8vo volume, neatly covered with colored paper, and 
have on the back the word pamphlets, printed with sufficient 
space in the label for inserting any other titles that may be 
desired. They will contain ten or a dozen pamphlets of the 
average size, and make a good appearance on the shelves. 
Whether such an arrangement may be desirable for a per- 
manence or not, it is a temporary provision of exceeding con- 
veniency. In these depositories, pamphlets may be associated 
according to any law of connection that may be thought 
expedient, and the classification be changed at pleasure. From 
them can be selected with facility the materials for volumes, 
combining the requisite points of agreement that give to 
boimd tracts their greatest value; congruity of size, of sub- 
ject, and of date. Their cost is but about eleven cents each, 



562 American Antiquarian Society 

and were it only for the aid they furnish to the preparatory 
process of assortment, without reference to their use as places 
of deposit, they are beheved to be amply worth their price. 

The Librarian's Catalogue being exposed to dilapidation 
from constant use, the Council directed sometime since, that 
a new interleaved copy should be made up, in three volumes, 
for the purpose of having the Ms. entries transcribed in a 
neat and uniform manner. This has been nearly completed, 
two volumes and about half of the third being finished, with 
the exception of the figures that denote the location of the 
books on their shelves. These are deferred in the expectation 
that a partial change of arrangement may be deemed expedient 
during the summer. 

There is, of necessity, always a considerable accumulation 
of books and papers in the Librarian's office. There the new 
accessions are temporarily deposited, and there by the only 
fireside in the building, the various works used in consultation 
are constantly collected. Investigations sometimes continued 
for days and weeks, often require that these should remain 
undisturbed. Moreover, certain classes of books are so fre- 
quently resorted to for reference that it is convenient to have 
them always at hand. The propriety of putting up in that 
apartment commodious shelves secured from dust has there- 
fore been suggested, to contain such catalogues, bibhographical 
and historical authorities as are oftenest consulted, and other 
volumes that happen to be in use, or are unprovided with a 
pemianent location. Many advantages would attend this 
arrangement, and a little more spare room, of which there is 
much need, be afforded in the main building. 

Pubhcations have been received from the following literary 
and scientific associations, viz: the Georgia Historical Society 
the Northern Antiquarian Society at Copenhagen, the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society, the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the New Jersey His- 
torical Society, the Geographical Society of Paris, the Massa- 
chusetts Prison Disciphne Society, the Worcester County 
Mechanics Association, the Royal Geographical Society of 
London, the Historical Institute of Paris, the French Statis- 
tical Association, and the American Unitarian Association. 

The Society is indebted to Charles Purton Cooper, Esq., 
late secretary of the Record Commission of Great Britain, 
for several pamphlets relating to the proceedings of that body, 
and also for several of his own publications. It is believed 



Meeting of May jo, 1849 563 

that the labors of the Record Commission have been sus- 
pended; and as no volumes have of late been received from 
that source, and none perhaps are to be expected, at least for 
the present, may it not be proper to transmit in an official 
form the thanks of the Society for the HberaHty of the British 
Government in relation to those records, accompanied by a 
hst of such as have been received, that, if there should happen 
to have been any omissions, there may be afforded the oppor- 
tunity of supplying them? 

Mr. Rich, the bookseller, a member of this society, has been 
the agent by whom the publications of the Commission have 
been forwarded. In the same parcel with Mr. Cooper's dona- 
tion he inclosed a copy of the continuation of his Bibliotheca 
Americana, and would doubtless be ready to serve as the 
medium of any communication that might be desired. 

The selection of an agent for the transmission of documents 
to and from Paris has not yet been effected. Messrs. Little & 
Brown were applied to, but decHned the office, recommending 
the house of Harnden & Co. The arrangements of the latter 
were found to be not exactly such as are wanted. It has. been 
advised that some American resident in Paris, would probably 
be most useful in that capacity. Mr. Walsh has been men- 
tioned as a suitable person, and as occupying a position favor- 
able for the purpose. Under these circumstances the matter 
rests for such farther directions as the Council see fit to give. 

Mr. Alexander Vattemare, well known for his active exer- 
tions in the international exchange of literary productions, 
has recently visited this institution, with the hope of engaging 
its interest in his favorable project. Among his other enter- 
prises he has established an American Library at Paris, to be 
made up wholly of American books, arranged according to 
the states from which they are obtained, and invites the 
Antiquarian Society to contribute from its duplicates to the 
completion of that collection, as tending to national honor, 
as well as to Hterary and scientific utility. 
All which is respectfully submitted. 

S. F. Haven, Librarian. 



INDEX 



Abbot, Benjamin, elected member, 79. 
Abbot, John L., 39. 

elected member, 12. 
"Account of American Antiquarian 
Society," 14. 

to be reprinted, 123. 
Adams, Ebenezer, 167. 

elected member, 21. 
Adams, John, elected member, 40. 
Adams, John Quincy, 284, 368, 404. 

elected member, 382. 

death of, 538. 
Adams, Josiah, 328. 
Adams, Nathaniel, 80, 100. 

elected member, 43. 
Adams, Seth, elected member, 131. 
Address to members, 139. 
Albany Institute, 328. 
Albee, Asahel, 254, 263, 269, 279, 288. 
Alden, Roger, 138, 167, 173, 214. 

elected member, 78. 
Alden, Timothy, 41, 81, 100, 137, 166, 
172, 178, 214. 

elected member, 12. 
Aldrich, Jonathan, 328. 
AUard, Charles, 540. 
Allen, Benjamin, elected member, 103. 
Allen, Charles, elected member, 217. 
Allen, George, 261, 280, 287. 
Allen, Joseph, elected member, 211. 
Allen, Wilkes, 220. 
Allen, Wilham, 284. 

elected member, 42. 
American Academy of Arts and 

Sciences, 516, 534. 
American Antiquarian Society, peti- 
tion to legislature, i. 

act of incorporation, 3. 

advertisement of first meeting, 6. 

newspaper account of, 204. 

report on future interests, 503. 

sketch of early history, 526. 
American Bible Society, 297, 319. 
American Education Society, 298. 
American Philosophical Society, 102. 
American Stationers Company, 343. 
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany, 82, 96, 97. 



S65 



Anderson, Robert, 202. 
elected member, 103. 

Andrews, Ebenezer T., 6, 7, 8, 13, 19, 
20, 21, 38, 39, 49, 154, 171, 202, 
242. 
incorporator, 4. 
chosen Secretary, 9. 

Andrews, John, elected member, 178. 

Andrews, Josiah Bishop, elected mem- 
ber, 70. 

Andrews, William S., 273. 

Appleton, Jesse, elected member, 13. 

Argyropoulos, George, elected mem- 
ber, 368. 

Arnold, Samuel G., elected member, 
78. 

Asiatic Society, 16. ;j 

Astor, John Jacob, 397. 

Atherton, Charles Humphrey, elected 
member, 78. 

Atwater, Caleb, 137, 148, 163, 166, 
528. 
elected member, 131. 

Atwater, Jeremiah, elected member, 
78. 

Atwill, Herman, 272.' 

Bacon's Rebelhon, 301, 302, 303. 
Bailey, John, 123. 

elected member, 103. 
Balbi, Adriano, 304. 
Baldwin, Christopher Columbus, 132, 
211, 223, 226, 229, 232, 233, 238, 
242, 262, 268, 272, 277, 281, 285, 
286, 287, 293, 306, 335, 451. 
elected member, 217. 
chosen Librarian, 218, 224, 229. 
reappointed Librarian, 252. 
writes Librarian's Report, 226, 232, 
256, 261, 270, 276, 284, 291, 298. 
portrait of, 299, 329, 376. 
death of, 300, 305. 
memoir of, 309. 
obituary notice of, 331. 
Baldwin, Edward, 330. 
Baldwin, Loammi, elected member, 

42. 
Ballard, Joseph, 272. 



566 



Index 



Bancroft, Aaron, i, 3, 6, 7, 39, 49, 77, 
82, 124, 127, 144, 149, 150, 153, 

167, 169, 172, 200, 203, 216, 227, 

228, 232, 242, 248, 270, 272, 285, 
293, 328, 450. 

incorporator, 4. 

on committee for By-laws, 7, 13. 

chosen Counsellor, 9, 47. 

on sub-committee for Worcester, 80. 

on committee of publication, 82, 
loi, 128, 145, 166, 173, 177, 202, 
206, 210, 212, 217, 224, 229, 234. 

chosen ist Vice President, 99, 127, 
13s, 145, 165, 171, 177, 201, 205, 
209, 211, 217, 223, 229, 234. 

chosen Orator, 135. 

on committee of nomination, 165, 
i73i i77> 202, 206, 212, 217, 224, 

229, 235. 

Bancroft, George, 380, 446, 470. 

elected member, 356. 
Bancroft, John, elected member, 103. 
Bancroft, Timothy W., 221, 261, 268, 

27s, 281, 287, 381. 
Bangs, Edward, 3, 6, 7, 8, 21, 45, 46, 
47, 56, 79, 82. 

incorporator, 4. 

on committee for By-laws, 7. 

chosen Counsellor, 9, 47, 99, 127. 

on sub-council for Worcester, 80. 
Bangs, Edward D., 143, 144, 149, 152, 

168, 172, 228, 232, 242, 265, 277, 

344, 349, 354, 535- 
lottery, 79. 
elected member, 137. 
on committee of publication, 145, 

166, 173, 177, 202, 206, 210, 212. 
chosen Counsellor, 165, 171, 177, 

201, 249, 264, 276, 292, 299, 332, 

341- 

chosen assistant Treasurer, 217, 224, 
229, 234. 

writes Council Report, 335. 

writes Report on Librarj^ 347. 

death of, 352. 

portrait of, 352. 
Bangs, Mrs. Edward D., 446. 
Banner, Peter, 154. 
Barber, Mr., 221. 
Barnes, M., 445. 
Barras, R., 262. 
Barry, William, 377. 
Bartlett, Bailey, elected member, 137. 
Bartlett, Isaac, 336, 362, 387, 407. 
Bartlett, Josiah, 81, loi. 

elected member, 21. 

on committee of nomination, 128, 

145- 
Bartlett, Levi, elected member, 79. 



Barton, Benjamin Smith, 35. 

elected member, 42. 
Barton, Ira, 272. 

Barton, Ira M., elected member, 405. 
Barton, William, 138, 167. 

elected member, 42. 
Batcheller, Stephen, 272. 
Bates, James, 272. 

Bayard, James A., elected member, 78. 
Bayhes, William, elected member, 42. 
Beacon Hill, 70. 
Beaman, Mr., 221. 
Bean, Joseph, 490. 
Beck, Lewis C., 328. 
Beck, Theodoric Romeyn, 100, 138, 
166. 

elected member, 70. 
Belcher, Jonathan, letter-book of, 221, 
224. 

desk of, 333. 
Bell, H., 288. 
Bell, Shubael, 128, 133. 
Bellows, A., 262. 

Benson, Egbert, elected member, 40. 
Bentley, William, 8, 19, 21, 39, 45, 46, 
49, 56, 82, 104, 123, 124, 136, 152, 
270, 273, 374. 

elected member, 8. 

chosen Coimsellor, 9, 47, 99, 127, 

135, 145- 
on sub-council for Boston, 80. 
on committee of publication, 82, 

loi, 128, 145. 
address by, 103, 104. 
will of, 151. 
Bethune, William, 353. 
elected member, 349. 
Bigelow, A., 49. 

Bigelow, Abijah, 133, 136, 152, 169, 
172, 175, 223, 272. 
elected member, 21. 
chosen Counsellor, 127, 135, 145, 
165, 171, 177, 201, 206, 209, 212, 
217. 
Bigelow, Andrew, 166, 237. 

elected member, 154. 
Bigelow, Lucy, 263, 280, 288. 
Bigelow, Timothy, 5, 6, 13, 21, 39, 49, 
loi, 167. 
incorporator, 4. 
on committee for By-laws, 7. 
chosen Counsellor, 9, 47. 
on committee of nomination, 22, 

128, 145. 
on sub-council for Boston, 80. 
chosen 2d Vice President, 127, 135, 
14s, 165. 
Bigelow, William, elected member, 40. 
Biglow, Abraham, elected member, 21. 



Index 



567 



Birch, Samuel, 469. 
Bixby, Daniel, 521. 
Blackburn, Gideon, 100, 138, 167, 

173- 

elected member, 79. 
Blake, Francis, 6. 

incorporator, 4. 

chosen Counsellor, 99. 
Blake, John Lauris, elected member, 

70. 
Blanding, William, 354. 

elected member, 349. 
Blodget, Samuel, 470. 
Bloomfield, Joseph, 172, 173. 

elected member, 42. 
Blythe, James, 100. 

elected member, 78. 
Bogert, John G., 131, 132. 

elected member, 42. 
BoUvar, Simon, elected member, 230. 
Bonaparte, Charles, elected member, 

478. 
Bond, William, 49, 135, 138, 272. 

elected member, 43 . 
Boston Athenaeum, 67, 298, 545. 
Boston Records, Book of, 123. 
Bosworth, Joseph, elected member, 

208. 
Botta, Carlo Giuseppe G., elected 

member, 175. 
Boudinot, Elias, elected member, 42 
Boudinot, Ehsha, elected member, 48 
Bouton, Nathaniel, 272. 
Bowdoin, James, 202, 207, 212, 213 
218, 225, 230, 232, 23s, 242, 249 

elected member, 178. 

chosen assistant Rec. Secretary, 201 
206, 209, 212, 217, 224, 229, 234 

chosen Counsellor, 248, 264. 
Bowen, Jabez, elected member, 43. 
Bowen, Pardon, 80, 100. 

elected member, 21. 
Bowen, William, elected member, 82. 
Bowles, Samuel, 429. 
Bowring, John, 235. 

elected member, 285. 
Boyden, Joseph, 273. 
Boylston, John L., 238, 272. 
Boylston, Nicholas, elected member, 

145- 
Bozman, John Leeds, 137, 166, 172, 
202. 
elected member, 42. 
Brackenridge, Henry M., 173. 

elected member, 131. 
Bracket, Adino N., elected member, 

208. 
Bradford, Alden, 3, 5. 
elected member and declined, 40. 



Bradford, Le Baron, elected member, 

79- 
Bradley, Samuel A., 328. 

elected member, 137. 
Bradstreet, John, papers of, 496. 
Brainard, David, 476. 
Brandis, Christian August, elected 

member, 368. 
Bray, OHver, 49, 100. 137, 166. 

elected member, 40. 
Brazer, John, 272. 

elected member, 137. 
Brewster, Sir David, elected member 

103. 
Bridgham, Samuel W., 39, 137, 166, 
172. 

elected member, 2 1 . 
Brigham, David T., 279, 280. 
Brigham, Edmund, 254, 263, 269, 280, 

288. 
Brigham, Elijah, elected member, 21. 
Brinley, George, 540. 

elected member, 507. 
British Museum, 513. 
Brodhead, John Romeyn, 499. 
Bronson, Enos, elected member, 79. 
Brooks, John, elected member, 103. 
Brown, Ethan A., elected member, 

131- 
Brown, Francis, elected member, 21. 
Brown, James, 137, 172, 178. 

elected member, 48. 
Brown, James, 261, 268, 272. 
Brown, Joseph, 272. 
Brown, Matthew, elected member, 78. 
Brown, Moses, elected member, 78. 
Brown, Nicholas, elected member, 21. 
Brown, O., 306. 
Brown, Obadiah, 439. 
Brown, Thomas, elected member, 103. 
B run ton, Alexander, elected member, 

175- 

Bryant, Jacob, 35. 

Buchan, David Stuart Erskine, Earl 
of, elected member, 103. 

Buckland, WilUam, 231. 

Buffon, George Louis Leclerc, 34. 

Burke, J., 387. 

Bmrnet, Jacob, 81, 100. 
elected member, 79. 

Burnett, Luther, 272. 

Burnet, William, portrait of, 376. 

Burnside, Samuel M., 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 
14, 20, 21, 24, 39, 41, 44, 45, 131, 
132, 144, 152, 153, 154, 172, 174. 
242, 254, 255, 257, 264, 267, 269, 
272, 275, 286, 292, 298, 302, 307, 
S?,'^, 360, 399, 417, 421, 42s, 428, 
434, 484, 507, S2I, 54°, 547- 



568 



Index 



Burnside, Samuel M., incorporator, 4. 
chosen Rec. Secretary, 7. 
chosen Corres. Secretary, 47, 80, 

loi, 128, 13s, 145, 165, 172, 177. 
on committee of pubUcation, 145, 

166, 173, 177, 202, 2c6, 210, 212, 

218, 224, 234. 
chosen Counsellor, 201, 206, 209, 

212, 217, 223, 229, 234, 249, 264, 

276, 292, 299, 332, 341, 357, 383, 

399, 423, 431, 449, 472, 484, 508, 

525, 548. 
chosen Librarian, 234. 
writers Librarian's Report, 250. 
writes Council Report, 301, 353, 

474, 494, 509, 549- 

gift of pamphlets, 385. 

writes Report on Library, 393, 403. 
Burr, Jonathan, elected member, 42. 
Burrill, James, elected member, 78. 
Burt, Simeon, 254, 263, 269, 280, 287. 
Butman & Co., 254, 261, 262, 263, 268, 

269, 274, 275, 280, 281, 287. 
Butterfield, J., 395. 
Butterfield, T. W., 395. 
By-laws, 76. 

committee appointed, 7, 13. 

report of committee, 9. 

draft of, 10, 12. 

amended, 12, 14, 22, 23, 40, 41, 47, 
70, 241. 

to be published, 22. 

to be revised, 46, 173, 178. 

Cadogan, 407. 

Caldwell, Charles, 80, 100, 137, 146, 

173- 
elected member, 79. 
Campbell, J., 407. 
Card-catalogue, 546. 
Carey, Mathew, 81, 100, 138, 167, 173, 
178, 220, 272, 284, 318, 328. 
elected member, 79. 
Carey, Moses, 272. 
Carpenter, John, 261. 
Carroll, Charles, elected member, 78. 
Carroll, John, elected member, 78. 
Carter, James T., 272. 
Carthy, Daniel, elected member, 78. 
Cary, Samuel, 21, 24. 
elected member, 12. 
Cass, Lewis, elected member, 175. 
Catalogue of Library, 46, loi, 130, 
136, 138, 141, 228, 233, 256, 260, 
266, 273, 276, 282, 293, 294, 320, 
326, 331, 334, 339, 346, 364, 469, 
545, 562. 
to be printed, 224. 
published, 343. 



Celoron plate, 226, 305. 
Chadwick, Edmund, 272. 
Chamberlain, John Curtis, elected 

member, 82. 
Chamberlin, Henry H., 445. 
Champlin, Christopher Grant, 535. 

elected member, 43. 

bequest of, 425, 426. 
Chandler, Mrs. Gardiner, 416. 
Chandler, George, 328. 
Chandler, John, 367. 

portrait of, 384. 
Chandler, Peleg W., elected member, 
441. 

on committee of publication, 484. 
Chandler, Seth, 404, 421, 440. 
Chase, D., 445. 
Chase, Pliny, 416, 422. 
Chase, Thomas, 422, 482. 
Chateaubriand, Francois Ren6 Au- 

guste, Viscounte de, elected mem- 
ber, 103. 
Chester, John, elected member, 42. 
Cheves, Langdon, 81, 100, 137, 146. 

elected member, 48. 
Child, George H., 368. 
Church, Edwin, 273. 
Clap, Elisha, elected member, 178. 

chosen Assistant Treasurer, 201, 
206, 209, 212. 
Clark, Abraham, 100, 138, 166, 172. 

elected member, 42. 
Clarke, Adam, 331. 

elected member, 103. 
Clark, Christopher, 328. 
Clarke, John, 404. 
Clark, William, 137, 166, 167, 178. 

elected member, 48. 
Clavigero, Francisco Xavier, 35. 
Clay, Henry, elected member, 167. 

bust by Clevenger, 428. 
Clements, Timothy, 226. 
Cliflord, John D., 146. 

elected member, 145. 
Clinton, De Witt, 77, 80, 100, 166, 
167, 172, 223, 226, 301, 302, 305. 

elected member, 41. 

chosen 2d Vice-President, 171, 177, 
201, 205, 209, 211, 217. 
Clowes, Timothy, elected member, 

103. 
Cobb, David, elected member, 43. 
Codman, Stephen, loi, 161. 

elected member, 70. 

on committee to examine Treasurer's 
account, 128. 
Coe, John, 261, 268, 275, 281, 287. 
Cof&n, Charles, 167, 178. 

elected member, 42. 



Index 



569 



Cogswell, William, 272, 345. 

elected member, 430. 
Coin collection, 514. 
Coleman, William, elected member, 

78. 
Colman, Henry, 272. 
Colman, Lyman, 469. 
Colt, Judah, 138, 167. 

elected member, 78. 
Colton, Samuel H., 272, 287. 
Colimibus, Christopher, 13, 20, 25, 

57, 74, 85. 
Commerce in America, 112. 
Conant, Calvin, elected member, 131. 
Concert Hall, 19, 136, 144. 
Connecticut, trade with, 1 14. 

gift from Legislature, 327. 
Cooper, Charles Purton, 292, 319, 
562. 

elected member, 293. 
Copenhagen, Society of Antiquaries, 

16. 
Cotton, Rosseter, 172. 

elected member, 42. 
Council, duties of, 10, 54, 71, 245. 

first meeting of, 19. 
Craig, Neville B., elected member, 

525- 

Cranch, John, 138. 
elected member, 131. 

Cranch, Wilham, elected member, 41. 

Crocker, Hannah M., 43, 44. 

Crosby, C. C. P., letter-book, 221, 225. 

Crosby, Sparrow, 254, 263, 269, 280, 
288. 

Culberton, James, elected member, 79. 

Cumming, John Noble, elected mem- 
ber, 48. 

Curley, J. R., 272. 

Custis, George Washington Parke, 80, 
100, 137, 166, 172. 
elected member, 79. 

Cuthbert, James, elected member, 
178. 

Cutler, Manassah, elected member, 
40. 

Cutting, Abraham, 261, 268, 280, 288. 

Cutting, Jonas, 280, 288. 



Daggett, David, elected member, 78. 
Damon, Samuel, 254, 263, 269, 280, 

287, 358, 362. 
Damon, Samuel C, 420, 521. 
Dana, James Dwight, 420. 
Dana, Samuel, 5. 
Dana, Samuel Whittlesey, elected 

member, 48. 
Dane, Nathan, elected member, 103. 



Davis, Mr., 402. 
Davis, Aaron, 49. 

elected member, 21. 
Davis, Andrew Jackson, 273. 
Davis, David, 261, 275, 280, 287. 
Davis, Edv/in H., 516, 518, 530, 541. 
Davis, George T., 272. 
Davis, Isaac, 273, 279, 280, 430, 435, 
471, 488, 507. 
elected member, 405. 
Davis, John, of Boston, 8. 

elected member, 8. 
Davis, John, of Boston, elected mem- 
ber, 382. 
Davis, John, of Worcester, 176, 221, 
242, 243, 264, 271, 291, 298, 302, 
311, 328, 331, 356, 360, 368, 382, 
396, 399, 412, 423, 430, 440, 448, 
471, 498, 512, 521, 524, 525, 533, 
540, 550- 
elected member, 169. 
chosen Counsellor, 206, 209, 212, 

217, 223, 229, 234. 
chosen Vice-President, 248, 263, 
276, 291, 298, 331, 341, 356, 382, 
399, 423, 431, 449, 472, 484, 507, 
525, 548. 
writes Council Report, 259, 519, 

532. . 
address by, 448, 450. 
Davis, Merrill, 261, 275, 280, 287. 
Davis, N., 407. 

Dawes, Thomas, elected member, 43. 
Dearborn, Henry, elected member, 

103. 
Dearborn, Henry A. S., elected mem- 
ber, 82. 
Derby, Elias Hasket, 49. 

elected member, 13. 
Dexter, Simon N., 428. 
Dinsmore, Silas, 100, 102, 137, 138, 
166, 167, 172, 173. 
elected member, 40. 
Diploma, 132, 147, 150, 151, 368. 
Doane, Guy W., 173. 

elected member, 137. 
Doddridge, Philip, 490. 
Dodge, Edwin, 421. 
Dorr, John, 346. 
Dorr & Howland, 272, 287, 395. 
Drake, Daniel, 138, 167, 172. 

elected member, 131. 
Drake, Samuel G., 221, 301, 304, 550. 
Draper, James, 408. 
Drummond, Dr., 228. 
Dues, annual, 11, 23, 41, 75, 98, 129, 

149, 151, 224. 
Du Ponceau, Peter S., 146, 166, 172, 
176, 178. 



57° 



Index 



Du Ponceau, Peter S., elected mem- 
ber, 103. 

papers of, 496. 
Dustin, Alexander, 272. 

elected member, 169. 
Dwight, Edmund, 6, 39. 

incorporator, 4. 
Dwight, Timothy, elected member, 13. 

Earle, John M., 272, 337. 

Ebeling, Christoph Daniel, elected 

member, 48. 
Eddy, Samuel, elected member, 153. 
Ellery, William, elected member, 40. 
Eliot, Samuel, Jr., 100, 138, 167. 

elected member, 82. 
Elliot, Simon, elected member, 21. 
Elliott, Jesse D., 376. 
Ellis, Caleb, elected member, 82. 
Ellis, George E., elected member, 516. 
Elton, Romeo, 272, 404. 
elected member, 441. 
Emerson, William, 272. 
Emmons, Nathaniel, 284, 318. 
Endicott, John, portrait of, 375. 
Erving, George W., elected member, 

291. 
Estabrook, George, 261, 275, 280, 287. 
Estabrook, Joseph, elected member, 

154. 
Eustis, William, elected member, 79. 
Everett, Edward, 242, 250, 272, 284, 

389, 397, 424, 471, 475, 486, 489, 

491, 512, 516, 533, 534, 540, 548, 

550, 556. 
elected member, 79. 
chosen Foreign Corres. Secretary, 

263, 276, 292, 298, 332, 341, 356, 

383, 399- 
chosen President, 423, 431, 449, 

472, 484, 507, 525- 

Exchange Coffee House, 6, 7, 8, 12, 19, 
20, 22, 41, 45, 46, 48, 49, 70, 71, 
79> 83, 97, 99, 104, 122, 123, 126, 
128, 129, 130, 135, 136, 177, 201, 
202, 203, 205, 208, 211, 217, 223, 
227, 232, 242, 252, 265, 277, 292. 

Exchange Hotel, 44. 

Fabrique, S. S., 352. 
Faneuil Hall, 65. 

Farmer, John, 138, 146, 166, 167, 172, 
272. 

elected member, 145. 
Famham, John Hay, 100, 123, 138, 
146, 167, 173. 

elected member, 103. 
Farr, Jonathan, 490. 
Farrar, John, elected member, 42. 



Farrelly, Patrick, elected member, 

154. 
Fayal, Island of, 113. 
Fearing, Paul, 100, 138, 146. 

elected member, 103. 
Felt, Joseph B., 385, 493, 523, 540. 

elected member, 424. 

on committee of publication, 508, 

525- 
Fessenden, John, 254, 263, 269, 279, 

287. 
Field, Rev. Mr., 440. 
Finlay, George, 368, 385, 468. 

elected member, 356. 
Fisher, Maturin L., 273, 300, 326, 333, 

335, 336, 338, 344, 3S4, 429, 447- 
Fisk, Moses, 77, 81, 100, 102, 137, 166, 
167, 172. 
elected member, 40. 
Fiske, Oliver, i, 7, 48, 49, 71, 77, 79, 
141, 143, 168, 172, 272. 
elected member, 8. 
chosen Rec. Secretary, 47. 
on sub-council for Worcester, 80. 
chosen Coimsellor, 99, 127, 135, 145, 

165, 171, 177, 201, 206. 
address to members, 139. 
Fiske, Samuel, elected member, 82. 
Fitch, Ebenezer, elected member, 12, 

39- 
Flagg, Elijah, 281. 
Flagg, Josiah, 221. 
Flagg, Mr., 397. 
Folsom, C, 338. 

Folsom, George, 237, 272, 302, 304, 
305, 328, 360, 446. 
elected member, 248. 
on committee of publication, 292, 

299, 332. 
Folsom, Mark, 262. 
Forbes, John Murraj', elected mem- 
ber, 208. 
Force, Peter, 408. 
Forster, William, 144. 
Forster's Hotel, 144. 
Foster, Alfred Dwight, 225, 303, 356, 
363, 367, 448, 509, 525, 540, 547, 
55°, 556. 
elected member and declined, 208. 
elected member, 248. 
on committee of publication, 264, 
292, 299, 332, 341, 357, 383, 400, 

423, 431- 
chosen Treasurer, 449, 472, 484. 
writes Treasurer's Report, 466, 481, 

495, 5", 
writes Council Report, 480. 
chosen Counsellor, 508, 525, 548. 
Foster, Dwight, elected member, 21. 



Index 



571 



Foster, Henry, 421. 

Foster, Taft, 407. 

Foster, Theodore, elected member, 

^53- . . 
Fowle, William Bentley, 104. 

elected member, 154. 
Francis, John W., 77, 81, 100, 138, 
166, 172. 
elected member, 48. 
Franklin, Benjamin, printing press of, 

398. 
Frazer, Charles, elected member, 291. 
Freeman, Nathaniel, elected mem- 
ber, 42. 
Freeman, Samuel, elected member, 48. 
Fromentin, Eligius, 81, 100. 

elected member, 48. 
Fuller, Turner, 254, 263, 269, 280, 288. 
Fulton, Robert, elected member, 42. 
Fimes, D. Gregorio, elected member, 
208. 



Gahn, Henry, 49. 

elected member, 42. 
Galindo, Juan, 305, 385. 

elected member, 325. 
Gallatin, Albert, 300, 302, 303, 304, 
306, 331, 529. 

elected member, 324. 
Gardner, Francis, 347. 
Gasset, Henry, 429. 
Gaston, William, 100, 137, 166, 172. 

elected member, 48. 
Gay, Ebenezer, 318. 

elected member, 42. 
Gay, Mary C, 550. 
Georgia Historical Society, 396. 
Gerhard, Edward, elected member, 

341- 
Gibbs, George, 7, 19, 21, 39. 
elected member, 8. 
chosen Counsellor, 9. 
on committee on western surveys, 
24. 
Gibbs, Josiah Willard, elected mem- 
ber, 211. 
Gilbert, Benjamin J., elected member, 

82. 
Gill, Moses, 397. 
Gillis, James Melville, 521. 
Gilman, John T., elected member, 43. 
Gleason, John, 263, 279, 288. 
Goddard, Parley, 279, 280. 
Goddard, William, 39. 
elected member, 13. 
Goddard, William Austin, 273. 
Goddard, Wilham G., 428. 
elected member, 154. 



Goldsborough, Charles, 80, 100. 

elected member, 48. 
Goldsborough, Robert H., elected 

member, 48. 
Goodhue, Jonathan, 138, 166, 172. 

elected member, 103. 
Goodrich, Charles A., elected member, 

154- 
Goodwin, H. B., 221. 
Goodwin, Isaac, 167, 209, 215, 216, 

221, 224, 228, 233, 239, 242, 243, 

244, 281, 453. 
elected member, 12. 
address by, 154, i55- 
chosen Coimsellor, 209, 212, 217, 

223, 229, 234, 249. 
in charge of library, 241. 
Goodwin, Simeon S., 272. 
Gookin, Daniel, 267, 301, 302, 304, 

336. 
Gordon, George Hamilton, Earl of 

Aberdeen, elected member, 472. 
Gore, Christopher, elected member, 43. 
Goulding, Henry & Co., 402. 
Gourgas, Jacob, elected member, 13. 
Graham, James D., 397, 475. 
Granger, Ebenezer, elected member, 

154. 
Granger, J. H., 328. 
Graves, F. S., 287. 
Gray, Francis C., elected member, 

154- 
Gray, Wilham, elected member, 154. 
Green, Ashbel, elected member, 42. 
Green, Charles G., 272. 
Green, James, 272. 
Green, John, 8, 221, 272, 360. 
elected member, 8. 
chosen Counsellor, 249, 264, 276, 
292, 299, 332, 341, 357, 382, 399, 
423, 431, 449, 472, 484, 508, 525, 
548. 
Green, Levi, 261, 268, 281, 288. 
Green, William E., 221. 
Green, William N., 272. 
Greene, Charles W., elected member, 

48. 
Greenleaf, Moses, 166, 172. 

elected member, 154. 
Greenleaf, Simon, 172, 516. 

elected member, 154. 
Greenwood, Ethan Allen, 398. 
Grimke, Frederick, elected member, 

324- 
Grimk6, Thomas S., 284. 

elected member, 277. 
Grout, Moses W., 268, 272. 
Guilford, Nathan, 100, 138, 167, 173. 
elected member, 79. 



572 



Index 



Hale, Edward E., 521, 533, 540, 547, 
550. 
elected member, 525. 

Hale, Nathan, 219, 512, 521. 

Hale, Salma, 220. 

Hales, William, 346. 

Hall, John E., elected member, 131. 

Halsey, Thomas L., 39, 137, 166, 
172. 
elected member, 21. 

Halsey, Thomas L., Jr., elected mem- 
ber, 21. 

Hammat, Mrs., 174. 

Hammond, Elisha, 6. 
incorporator, 4. 

Hammond, J., 402. 

Hampden Mechanic Association, 273. 

Hancock, John, clock, 367. 

Hanson, Alexander Contee, elected 
member, 78. 

Harding, Chester, 299, 329, 337, 352. 

Hamden & Co., 563. 

Harper, Robert Goodloe, elected mem- 
ber, 78. 

Harrington, Jubal, 328, 380. 

Harris, Clarendon, 273, 287, 330, 362, 

387. 
Harris, Thaddeus M., 6, 7, 8, 43, 129, 
13s, 168, 172, 242, 333, 354, 404. 
incorporator, 4. 

chosen Corres. Secretary, 7, 47, 80, 
loi, 128, 13s, 145, 165, 172, 177, 
201, 206, 209, 215, 224, 229, 234. 
address by, 178, 179. 
chosen Foreign Corres. Secretary, 
249. 
Harris, William, elected member, 42. 
Harvard College, 303. 
Hassler, Ferdinand Rudolph, 385, 421, 

elected member, 356. 
Haven, Nathaniel Appleton, 172. 

elected member, 79. 
Haven, Samuel F., 237, 350, 373, 402, 
445, 472, 507, 508, 514, 524, 525- 
chosen Librarian, 344, 383. 
elected member, 356. 
writes Librarian's Report, 367, 380, 
398, 405, 411, 423, 430, 448, 462, 

471, 478, 491, 503, 522, 534, 547, 

551. 563- 
on committee of publication, 449, 

472, 484, 508, 525, 548. 

writes Report of Committee of 

Publication, 524, 556. 
journey to Ohio, 530, 545. 
Hawkins, Benjamin, 80. 

elected member, 40. 
Hayden, Moses, 254, 263, 269, 279, 
287. 



Heckewelder, John, elected member, 

178. 
Hedge, Barnabas, 150. 
Hedge, Levi, 123. 

elected member, 103. 
Hemmenway, E., 362. 
Henry, Joseph, 525. 
Herron, Francis, 138, 167, 173. 

elected member, 78. 
Heywood, Benjamin F., 214. 

elected member, 154. 
Heywood, John, elected member, 175. 
Higginson, Francis, portrait of, 375. 
Hildreth, Jeremiah, 262. 
Hildreth, Samuel P., 138, 146, 167, 
172. 

elected member, 131. 
Hill, Alonzo, 292, 356, 363, 367, 382, 

447, 540, 547- 
elected member, 248. 
Hill, Horatio, 272. 
Hill, Mark Langdon, 137, 166, 172. 
elected member, 103. 
chosen Counsellor, 145, 165. 
Hillhouse, James, elected member, 40. 
Hinman, Royal R., 333. 
Hitchcock, Gad, elected member, 42. 
Hobart, John Henry, elected member, 

48. 
Hodge, Charles, 396. 
Holley, Horace, 123, 129, 135, 146, 
166, 167, 172. 
elected member, 103. 
Holmes, Abiel, 8, 21, 22, 39, 46, 172, 
178, 203, 242, 272, 301, 302. 
elected member, 8. 
on committee on western surveys, 

24. 
address by, 57. 

chosen Corres. Secretary, loi, 128, 
13s, 145, 165, 172, 177, 201, 206, 
209, 215. 
lectures on Ecclesiastical History, 
508. 
Holt, Jonas, 261, 268, 280, 288. 
Hooker, John, elected member, 154. 
Hooker, William G., 404. 
Hosack, David, elected member, 48. 
Howard, John Eager, elected member, 

78. 
Howe, Hezekiah, 328. 
Howe, Levi, 254, 263, 269, 279, 287. 
Howland, Henry J., 328, 330, 338, 343. 
Howland, Southworth, 261, 268, 280, 

288. 
Hubbard, William, 67, 104. 
Hudson, Charles, 440, 512, 521, 540, 

550- 
elected member, 463. 



Index 



573 



Hudson & Adams, 262. 
Hull, John, diary of, 496. 
Humboldt, Alexander von, 304. 

elected member, 103. 
Humboldtj'Wilhelm von, elected mem- 
ber, 175. 
Humphreys, David, 49, 80, 100. 

elected member, 40. 
Hunt, David, 39. 

elected member, 12. 
Hunt, Thomas Carew, 441, 449. 
Hunt, William G., 167, 173. 

elected member, 145. 
Himter, William, elected member, 78. 
Huntington, Daniel, 272. 
Hutchinson & Crosby, 402. 

Indian Antiquities, S3- 
Inglis, James, 100, 138, 167. 

elected member, 79. 
Ireland, College of Antiquaries, 2, 14. 
Irving, Washington, elected member, 
79- 

Jackson, Andrew, elected member, 131. 

Jackson, John, elected member, 145. 

Jackson, Richard, elected member, 78. 

Jackson, S. R., 338, 354, 380. 

Jamaica, Island of, 77, 113. 

James, Eleazer, incorporator, 4, 6. 

Jamieson, James, elected member, 
103. 

Jarvis, Samuel Farmar, elected mem- 
ber, 70. 

Jay, John, elected member, 41. 

Jay, Peter Augustus, elected member, 
41. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 303. 
elected member, 41. 

Jenckes, William Scott, elected mem- 
ber, 137. 

Jenison, William, 100. 

Jenks, William, 8, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 
39, 40, 49, 100, 103, 104, 127, 132, 
138, 167, 172, 173, 178, 203, 207, 

209, 232, 233, 242, 268, 508. 
elected member, 8. 

chosen Corres. Secretary, 9, 47, 80. 

address by, 25. 

chosen counsellor, 145, 171, 177, 

201, 205, 212, 217, 223, 229, 234. 
on committee of publication, 145, 

166, 173, 177, 202, 206, 210, 212, 

217, 224, 229, 234, 249, 264. 
on committee of nomination, 146. 
Jennings, Ebenezer, 328. 
Jeimison, Samuel, loi, 144, 152, 167, 

168, 171, 172, 176, 203, 204, 209, 

210, 233, 242, 249, 254, 255, 268, 



269, 272, 275, 287, 288, 337, 344, 
347. 350, 354, 362, 369, 380, 387, 
393, 401, 406, 413, 418, 426, 43S, 

444, 459, 463, 466, 481, 488, 550. 
elected member, 42. 

chosen Librarian, 47, 80, loi, 128, 

135, 145, 177- 
chosen assistant Corres. Secretary, 

145- 

chosen Counsellor, 165, 171, 177, 
223, 229, 484. 

chosen Corres. Secretary, 165, 201, 
206. 

on committee of publication, 166, 
173, 177) 202, 206, 210, 212, 218, 
229, 234, 277, 508, 525. 

chosen Treasurer, 229, 234, 249, 264, 
276, 292, 299, 332, 341, 356, 383, 
400, 431, 508, 525, 548. 

writes Treasurer's Report, 249, 254, 
261, 269, 274, 281, 289, 296, 307, 
33°, 336, 338, 348, 355, 363, 382, 
388, 395, 402, 407, 4i9> 427, 43S, 

445, 460, 520, 533, 539, 560. 
resigns as Treasurer, 449. 
writes Council Report, 538. 

Jewett, Charles C, 534, 561. 
Johnson, Sir William, papers of, 496. 
Johnston, Robert, elected member, 78. 
Johnston, Thomas, 470. 
Jomard, Edme Francois, 513, 514. 
Jones, John Cofhn, elected member, 

43- 
Jones, Silas, 272. 
Jones, Sir William, 16, 35, 64. 
Jones, William, elected member, 13, 

49. 
Judd, Sylvester, 488. 
elected member, 516. 



Kendall, Jonas, 272. 

Kendall, P., 407. 

Kennett, White, 283, 290. 

Kent, James, elected member, 42. 

death of, 538. 
Kentucky Historical Society, 396. 
Kettell, J. P., 254, 263, 269, 280, 287. 
Keyes, John, 328. 
King, Rufus, elected member, 42. 
King's Chapel, 19, 24. 
Kingsborough, Lord Viscount, 319, 

372. 
Kinnicutt, Thomas, 448, 463, 466, 472, 

525, 547, 556. 

elected member, 424. 
Kirkland, Edward, 273. 
Kirkland, John T., 6, 7, 8, 21. 

incorporator, 4. 



574 



Index 



Knapp, Samuel L., elected member, 

43- 
Knowlton, John S. C, 273, 328. 

Lafayette, Marie Jean Paul Marquis 
de, elected member, 208. 

letters of, 238. 
Lamb, I., 281. 

Lancaster, Joseph, papers of, 496, 512. 
Langdon, Benjamin T., 328. 
Langdon, James B., 328. 
Lathrop, John, 46, 49, 333. 

elected member, 40. 
Lathrop, John, Jr., 21, 41, 44, 48. 

elected member, 13. 

chosen Assistant Rec. Secretary, 38, 

47- 

Latrobe, Benjamin H., elected mem- 
ber, 78. 

Laurentius, portrait of, 404. 

Lawrence, Abbott, 540. 
elected member, 507. 

Lawrence, Amos A., 521. 

Laws, draft of, 10, 12. 

revised, 71-7S, i39, 203, 244. 
amended, 151, 241. 

Laws of State Legislatures, 48, 55, 148, 
208, 238, 297, 366, 379, 396. 

Laws of United States, 47, 55, 238. 

Lear, Tobias, elected member, 43. 

Leavitt, Lord & Co., 328. 

Ledyard, Henry, 441. 

Lee, Samuel, 272. 

Lees, John, 347. 

Le Grice, Hawks, 285. 

L'EscalHer, Baron, elected member, 
48. 

Leverett, John, portrait of, 375. 

Lewis, Isaac, elected member, 103. 

Librarj', size of, 51. 
classification of, 378. 

Librarian, duties of 11, 73, 247. 

Library Building, considered, 125, 131, 

132, 133, 134- 

erected, 143, 147, 153, 170. 

alcoves constructed, 175. 

description of, 204. 

erection of wings, 239, 250. 

hours of opening, 253. 

wings erected, 253, 257, 371. 
Lincoln, Enoch, elected member, 137. 
Lincoln, John W., 412, 467, 512, 533, 

547- 
elected member, 399. 
Lincoln, Levi, 3, 6, 9, 452. 
incorporator, 4. 
chosen Counsellor, 99. 
Lincoln, Levi, Jr., 6, 9, 38, 39, 47, 49, 
134, 144, 168, 169, 172, 173, 176, 



242, 244, 248, 272, 311, 328, 340, 
360, 368, 405, 448, 472. 

incorporator, 4. 

chosen Treasurer, 9. 

chosen Coimsellor, 127, 135, 145, 
165, 171, 177, 201, 206, 209, 212, 
217, 223, 229, 234, 248, 264, 276, 
292, 299, 332, 341, 357, 382, 399, 
423, 431. 449, 472, 484, 508, 525, 
548- 

on committee of nomination, 165, 
173, 177, 202, 206, 212, 217, 224, 
229, 235._ 
Lincoln, William, 210, 215, 216, 217, 
222, 232, 233, 242, 244, 262, 272, 
277, 287, 300, 302, 333, 335, 3S4, 
356, 358, 383, 392, 400, 405, 409, 
428, 447, 462, 467. 

elected member, 208. 

chosen Corres. Secretary, 209, 215, 

234- 
chosen Librarian, 210, 212. 
writes Librarian's Report, 215, 222. 
on committee of pubhcation, 218, 

224, 229, 234, 249, 264, 277, 292, 

341,357,383,400,423,431- 
chosen assistant Corres. Secretary, 

224, 229. 
gift of books, 236. 
writes report on Library, 238, 362. 
chosen Domestic Corres. Secretary, 

249, 264, 276, 292, 299, 332, 341, 

356, 383, 399- 
writes Council Report, 267, 274, 

279,329,345,353,376,417- 
address by, 308. 

private library of, 366, 386, 475. 
presents engravings, 408. 
presents maps and views, 421. 
memoir of, 452. 
Little & Brown, 522, 563. 
Livermore, Edward St. Loe, elected 

member, 82. 
Livingston, Brockholst, elected mem- 
ber, 42. 
Livingston, Edward, elected member, 

277. 
Li\ingston, Jasper H., elected member, 

78. 
Lloyd, James, elected member, 154. 
Lord, Nathaniel, elected member, 40. 
Loring, James, 123. 
Lottery, 79, 124. 
Lovell, J. T., 262. 
Low, John, 262, 354. 
Lowell, Charles, 70, 80, 122, 138, 167, 
172, 173, 174, 178, 179, 203, 207, 
228, 232, 242, 292, 293, 441, 489. 
elected member, 48. 



Index 



575 



Lowell, Charles, chosen Orator, 135. 
on committee of nomination, 146, 

16s, 173, 177, 202, 206, 210, 212, 

217, 224, 229, 23s. 
chosen Counsellor, 165, 171, 177, 

201, 205, 209, 212, 217, 223, 229, 

234, 249, 264, 276, 292, 299, 332, 

341, 357, 382, 399> 423, 431, 449, 
472, 484, 508, 525, 548. 

Lowell, John, incorporator, 4, 6. 

Lower, Mark Anthony, elected mem- 
ber, 463. 

Ludden, Enoch, 254, 263, 269, 280, 
287. 

Lyman, Daniel, elected member, 78. 

Lyman, Jonathan H., 6, 39, 49. 
incorporator, 4. 

Lyman, Joseph, elected member, 13. 

McCall, Hugh, 100, 137, 166, 172. 

elected member, 40. 
Maccarty, Nathaniel, 49, 144, 172, 
223, 228, 262, 274, 281, 288, 295, 

535- 

elected member, 13. 

chosen Treasurer, 145, 165, 172, 177, 
201, 206, 209, 212, 217, 224. 

bequest of, 244, 255. 
McCaul, John, elected member, 491. 
McCulloh, James Hugh, 39, 138, 167, 
173, 178, 202. 

elected member, 12. 
McDowell, John, elected member, 79. 
McFarland, William, 535. 

legacy of, 402, 406. 
McHenry, James, elected member, 78. 
McKean, Joseph, 8, 333. 

elected member and declined, 8. 
Mackenzie, Roderick, elected member, 

78. 
McKesson, John, elected member, 42. 
McKinney, John A., 138, 167. 

elected member, 131. 
Maclure, William, elected member, 

325- 
Macracken, S. F., 328. 
Madeira Islands, 113. 
Madison, Bishop James, 36. 
Madison, James, elected member, 131. 
Magnusen, Finn, elected member, 325. 

death of, 538. 
Maltby, A. H., 446. 
Manly, Eben, 408. 
Manning, William, 45, 82, 139, 221. 
Manning & Trumbull, 154. 
Marlborough Hotel, 165. 
Marshal], Alexander K., 137. 

elected member, 103. 
Marshall, E. H., 387. 



Marshall, John, 49. 

elected member, 41. 
Martin, Francois Xavier, 272. 

elected member, 277. 
Mason, Jeremiah, elected member, 79. 
Mason, John M., elected member, 42. 
Massachusetts Historical Society, 33, 

65, 67, 221, 298, 353, 499, 522. 
Massachusetts Legislature, 124. 
Mather, Cotton, 43, 44, 52, 225, 318, 
490, 497. 

diaries of, 499. 
Mather, Increase, 43, 44, 52. 
Mather, Samuel, 43, 44, 70. 
Mather hbrary, 439. 
Mather portraits, 366, 376. 
May, Samuel, 512, 520. 
Means, Robert, 440, 446. 
Mease, James, 420. 

elected member, 208. 
Meeting-days, 11, 13, 54, 74, 246. 
Members, list of, 244. 

limited to one hundred and forty, 
246. 
Merrick, Pliny, 223, 224, 242, 440, 

489, 507- 
elected member, 211. 
Merrifield, Alpheus, 262, 281, 336. 
Merrifield, William T., 387. 
Merrill, James Gushing, 126, 128, 129, 
139, 146, 150, 166, 168, 171, 172, 
177, 207, 232, 242, 277, 292, 478. 
elected member, 82. 
on committee of nomination, 128, 
145, 165, 173, 177, 202, 206, 210, 
212, 217, 224, 229, 235. 
chosen assistant Secretary, 135, 145, 

165, 171, 177. 
chosen Counsellor, 223, 229, 234, 
249, 264, 276, 292, 299, 332, 341, 
357, 382, 399, 423, 431, 449, 472, 
484, 508, 525, 548. 
Messer, Asa, elected member, 78. 
Metcalf, Theron, 440. 

elected member, 463. 
Miller, Henry W., 330, 354. 
Miller, James, elected member, 169. 
Miller, Samuel, 80, 100, 137, 166, 
172. 
elected member, 13. 
Mills, Elijah H., 6, 39. 

incorporator, 4. 
Mitchill, Samuel L., 138, 144, 167, 172, 
220. 
elected member, 42. 
Mittermaier, Karl Joseph Anton, 

elected member, 478. 
Monis, Judah, 404. 
Monroe, James, elected member, 131. 



576 



Index 



Montmorency, Duke de, elected mem- 
ber, 325. 

Moore, Dr., 421. 

Moore, Charles W., 272. 

Moore, Jacob Bailey, Jr., elected mem- 
ber, 175. 

Moore, Jesse, elected member, 78. 

Moore, Martin, 219. 

Moore, Robert, elected member, 153. 

Moore & Sevey, 237. 

Moreau, M. Cesar, 447. 
elected member, 291. 

Moreno, Don Manuel, elected mem- 
ber, 208. 

Morris, Gouvemeur, elected member, 
42. 

Morrow, Jeremiah, elected member, 
48. 

Morse, Jedediah, 8, 21, 22, 23, 39, 49, 
81, 178. 
elected member, 8. 
on committee on western surveys, 

24. 
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, elected 

member, 82. 
Morton Rudolphus, 272. 
Morton, Samuel G., elected member, 

463. 
Moss, James, elected member, 78. 
Muhlenberg, Henry, elected member, 

42. 
Mummy found in Kentucky, loi, 

102. 
Munson, Jeremiah R., elected mem- 
ber, 131. 
Murdock, A., 338. 
Museum, arrangement of, 176, 204, 

365, 375- 

Nash, William, elected member, 21. 
Nason, Reuben, elected member, 48. 
New Hampshire Historical Society, 

273- 
New York, trade with , 114. 

laws of, 143. 
Newspapers, 276, 317. 

early files, 51. 

value of, 102, 226. 

files presented, 230, 427. 

collection of, 361, 374. 

bound, 372, 377. 
Newton, Rejoice, 83, 97, 98, 104, 123- 
126, 129, 130, 132-134, 136, 139, 
143, 144, 149, 150, 152-154, 168, 
169, 171, 172, 174, 175, 177, 179, 
201, 203, 205, 209-211, 215, 216, 
218, 223, 227, 232, 235, 239, 242, 
253, 254, 257, 263-265, 267, 272, 
274, 277, 279, 292-294, 301, 307, 



325, 329, 332, 335, 339-341, 346, 
349, 353, 354, 368, 389, 393, 400- 
402, 406, 413, 423-425, 428, 431, 

441, 449, 463, 465, 466, 478, 484, 
516, 548, 556. 
elected member, 79. 
chosen Rec. Secretary, 80, 128, 135, 
145, 165, 171, 177, 201, 206, 209, 
'212, 217, 224, 229, 234, 249, 276, 
292, 298, 332, 356, 383, 399, 423, 
431, 472, 484, 508, 525, 548. 
Nichols, Benjamin Roper, elected 

member, 103. 
Nicolas, Nicholas Harris, 353. 

elected member, 349. 
Noble, Abijah Weld, 173. 

elected member, 79. 
Noble, Mark, elected member, 103. 
Noonan, J. A., 396. 
Norris, Edward, in. 
Nott, Eliphalet, elected member, 43. 
Noyes, George R., 237. 

Otis, George A., elected member, 178. 
Otis, Harrison G., 6, loi. 

incorporator, 4. 
Overton, James, 167, 173. 

elected member, 154. 

Packard, William, 328. 
Paine, Amasa, 138, 166, 172. 

elected member, 70. 
Paine, Charles, 475. 
Paine, Elijah, 80, 100, 137, 166, 172. 

elected member, 41. 
Paine, Frederick William, 239, 244, 
252, 260, 261, 262, 263, 268, 272, 
292, 540. 
elected member, 12. 
chosen Counsellor, 234, 249, 264, 
276, 292, 299, 332, 341, 357, 382, 
399, 423, 431, 449, 472, 484, 508, 
525, 548. 
writes Council Report, 294, 340, 

345- 

writes Report on Library, 362. 
Paine, Henr>', 272. 
Paine, James, 280. 

Paine, Nathaniel, 3, 6, 133, 154, 168, 
416. 

incorporator, 4. 

on sub-council for Worcester, 80. 

chosen Counsellor, 99, 127, 135, 145. 
Paine, Robert Treat, 272. 
Paine, William, 3, 6, 20, 39, 46, 49, 56, 
77, 79, 125. 

elected member, 7. 

chosen 2d Vice-President, 9, 47, 80. 

on committee for By-laws, 13. 



Index 



S11 



Paine, William, on commtttee for pub- 
lishing By-laws, 22. 

lottery, 79. 

on committee of publication, 82, 
loi, 128. 

address by, 82, 83. 
Pamphlets, binding of, 283, 296, 373. 

arrangement of, 546, 561. 
Parish, EUjah, elected member, 40. 
Park, John, 331, 334, 344, 421, 428, 

447, 507- 
elected member, 248. 
chosen Counsellor, 264, 276, 292, 

299, 332, 341, 357, 382, 399, 423- 
on committee of publication, 264, 

299, 332, 341, 357, 383, 400, 423, 
431- 
writes Council Report, 286, 301, 

359- 
writes Report on Library, 347, 384. 
Park, Thomas, elected member, 175. 
Parker, Mr., 416, 421. 
Parker, Isaac, elected member, 145. 
Parkman, Francis, 242. 
elected member, 131. 
on committee of nomination, 165, 
173, 177, 202, 206, 210, 212, 217, 
235. 
Parsons, Theophilus, elected member, 

21. 
Parsons, Usher, 440. 

elected member, 441. 
Partridge, George, elected member, 

43- 
Patch, Andrew, 254, 263, 269, 280, 

288. 
Patch, John A., 254, 263, 269, 279, 

288. 
Patch, Lucy, 263, 279, 280, 288. 
Patch, Rebecca, 263, 280, 288. 
Patterson, Robert, elected member, 

78. 
Pauw, ComeUus de, 34. 
Peabody, John, 262. 
Peabody & Co., 328. 
Pearson, Joseph, 173. 
elected member, 48. 
Peasely, Aaron M., 81, 132. 
Peck, William D., 6, 7, 8, 19, 21, 44, 

49, lOI. 

incorporator, 4. 

chosen ist Vice-President, 7, 47, 80. 

on committee for By-laws, 7. 

on committee of nomination, 22. 

on committee for publishing By- 
laws, 22. 
Pelletier, J. A., 440. 
Pemberton, Thomas, 70. 
Pendleton, Mr., 147, 336, 337, 368. 



Penn, William, 90. 
Pennell, Lewis, 403. 
Penniman, John R., 45, 81. 
Pennsylvania, Historical Society of, 

143, 499- 
Perkins, Jesse, 272. 
Peters, Hugh, 106, iii, 116, 117. 
Phelps, Anson, 328. 
Phillips, John, elected member, 40. 
Phillips, William, elected member, 40. 
Phips, William, 43. 
Pickering, John, elected member, 175, 
405,424,441,462. 
chosen Foreign Corres. Secretary, 
389, 399, 423, 431, 449, 472, 484- 
renders report, 412. 
death of, 492, 494. 
Pickford, Jolui K. L., 254, 263, 269, 

280, 288. 
Pierce, James, 254, 263, 269, 288. 
Pierce, John, 81, loi. 
elected member, 70. 
on committee of nomination, 128, 

145- 
Pilgrims, Society of, 149, 150, 168. 
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, 49, 

146, 166, 172. 
elected member, 41. 
Pinckney, Thomas, elected member, 

43- 
Pintard, John, elected member, 41. 
Pitkin, Timothy, elected member, 78. 

death of, 538. 
Plant, Samuel, 476. 
Plumer, William, 137, 166, 167, 172. 

elected member, 79. 
Pomeroy, Samuel Wyllys, elected 

member, 43. 
Porter, Caroline, 328. 
Porter, Jacob, 214, 220, 231, 235, 272, 

328,421,440,489,533- 

elected member, 178. 
Porter, Samuel, elected member, 78. 
Portraits repaired, 366, 380, 445. 
Potter, EHsha R., elected member, 78. 
Pratt, William W., 261, 268, 280, 288. 
Prentiss, Charles G., 440. 
Prentiss, Henry, 333. 
Prescott, Samuel J., 21, 40, 41, 44, 45, 
46, 47, 48, 49, 56, 70, 79, 81, 102, 
122, 123, 130, 133, 13s, 136. 

elected member, 12. 

chosen Counsellor, 47, 99, 127, 135. 

lottery, 79. 

on sub-council for Boston, 80. 
Prescott, William H., 385. 

elected member, 367. 
Preston, John, 521. 
Prince, John, elected member, 48. 



578 



Index 



Prince, Thomas, 333. 

portrait of, 376. 

library of, 397, 404, 421, 429. 
Pulsifer, David, 522. 
Putnam, Samuel, elected member 
103. 

Quincy, Josiah, 6, 272, 368, 469. 

incorporator, 4. 
Quinsigamond Paper Mills Co., 337. 

Raffles, Thomas Stamford, elected 

member, 178. 
Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel, 167, 
220, 420. 

elected member, 154. 
Rafn, Charles Christian, 220, 233. 

elected member, 325. 
Raleigh, Walter, 44. 
Ramsay, David, elected member, 12. 
Randolph, John, elected member, 79. 
Rangabe, Alexandre Rizo, 468. 

elected member, 368. 
Ranney, Nathaniel, 281, 288. 
Rannsey, Nathaniel C, 262. 
Rantoul, Robert, 328. 
Reed, Abner, 132, 147, 154. 
Reed, John, elected member, 42. 
Renzi, Antoine, 441. 
Revolutionary Mss. sent to Secretary 

of State, 396. 
Rhode Island, trade with, 114. 
Rhode Island Historical Society, 328. 
Rhodes, Dudley W., 138, 167. 

elected member, 103. 
Rice, Curtis, 261, 268, 280, 287. 
Rice, George T., 254, 261, 263, 268, 

269, 275, 280, 287, 288. 
Rice, John H., 100, 138, 167, 173. 

elected member, 79. 
Rich, Obadiah, 319, 563. 

elected member, 291. 
Richards, James, elected member, 42. 
Richardson, William M., 127. 

elected member, 145. 
Robbins, Edward H., 46, 49, 103, 104, 
154, 167, 172, 235. 

elected member, 40. 

chosen Counsellor, 99, 127, 145, 165, 
171, 177, 201, 205, 209, 212, 217, 
223, 229. 
Robbins, Samuel Prince, 368. 

elected member, 79. 
Robbins, Thomas, 138, 166, T72, 285, 
292, 368. 

elected member, 82. 
Robertson, John J., 368. 

elected member, 341. 
Robertson, William, 35. 



Robinson, Miss, 221. 

Robinson, Thomas Bowling, elected 

member, 175. 
Rochette, Raoul, 368. 

elected member, 356. 
Rogers, John, portrait of, 375. 
Ross, Lewis, elected member, 341. 
Royal Geographical Society of Lon- 
don, 409, 540. 
Rush, Richard, elected member, 42. 
Russell, Benjamin, 6, 7, 8, 19, 21, 24, 
39, 45, 46, 48, 49, 56, 79, 82, 102, 
122, 123, 124, 136, 151, 167, 172, 
212, 232, 242, 265, 292. 
incorporator, 4. 

chosen Counsellor, 9, 47. 99, 127, 
135, 145, 165, 171, 177, 201, 205, 

209, 212, 217, 223, 229, 234, 248, 

264, 276, 292, 299, 332, 341, 357, 
382, 399, 423, 431, 449, 472. 
on sub-council for Boston, 80. 
Russell, Odiome & Co., 305. 

Sacy, Antoine J. S. de., elected mem- 
ber, 175. 

Sagra, Ramon de la, 328. 

Salem East India Marine Society, 273. 

Salisbury, Samuel, 225. 

Salisbury, Stephen, 430, 435, 465, 507, 
elected member, 399. 
chosen Counsellor, 449, 472, 484, 

508, 525, 548. 
on committee of pubUcation, 449, 
472, 484. 

Saltonstall, Leverett, elected member 
and declined, 103. 

Sanger, Obadiah, 254, 263, 269, 280, 
287. 

Sargent, Epes, elected member, 40. 

Sargent, Winthrop, 49, 81, 126, 137, 
301, 302, 303. 
elected member, 41. 

Saunders, Daniel Clark, elected mem- 
ber, 41. 

Savage, Samuel, elected member, 43. 

Schinas, Constantine D., elected mem- 
ber, 356. 

Schoolcraft, Henry, elected member, 

175- 
Schlegel, William, elected member, 

325- 
Schuyler, Philip, letter-book of, 496. 
Scotland, Society of Antiquaries, 228, 

230, 250. 
Scudder, Da\'id, elected member, 42. 
Seal, 22,, 4S, 76, 81, 124, 132, 136. 
Seaton, W". W., 238, 
Seavcr, Thomas, 328. 
Secretary, duties of, 10. 



Index 



579 



Seldon, George, elected member, 208. 
Sever, James, elected member, 42. 
Sewall, David, elected member, 48. 
Sewall, Samuel E., 43. 
elected member, 43. 
Sewell, Stephen, elected member, 82. 
Seymour, Horatio, 221. 
Shattuck, Lemuel, 302, 304, 328, 512. 

elected member, 248. 
Shaw, Charles, elected member, 123. 
Shaw, William S., 6. 

incorporator, 4. 
Sheafe, James, elected member, 79. 
ShefEey, Daniel, 137. 

elected member, 48. 
Sheldon, William, 77. 
elected member, 12. 
Shephard, Charles W., 328. 
Sherman, David A., 138, 167, 176, 178. 

elected member, 131. 
Sherwood, Oliver Henry, elected mem- 
ber, 471. 
Shurtleff, Roswell, elected member, 21. 
Sibley, Jonas L., 315. 
Sigourney, Mrs. Lydia Hxmtley, 489. 
Sikes, Reuben, 13, 39, 44, 40. 
Sikes' Coffee House, 133, 153. 
Sikes' Inn, 150. 
Sikes' Tavern, 13. 

SiUiman, Benjamin, 100, 137, 166, 167, 
172, 220. 
elected member, 13. 
Slater, Samuel, 272. 
Smith, David, 138, 167, 178. 

elected member, 137. 
Smith, H. M., 336. 
Smith, Isaac, elected member, 40. 
Smith, Jeremiah, elected member, 43. 
Smith, John Cotton, elected member, 

40. 
Smith, J. V. C, 543- 
Smith, Martin, 39. 
Smith, Samuel, 272. 
Smith, Thomas, elected member, 78. 
Smithsonian Institution, 102. 
Snelling, Nathaniel G., 21, 39, 44, 45, 
48, 49, 50, 79, 81, 83, 98, 99, lOI, 
104, 123, 124, 130, 131, 132, 136, 
166, 172. 
elected member, 12. 
chosen assistant Rec. Secretary, 80, 

loi, 128. 
on committee to examine Treas- 
urer's account, 128. 
Society of Antiquaries of London, 15. 
Sorrel, Mons. J., 138, 173. 

elected member, 48. 
Southey, Robert, elected member, 178. 
Spalding, Lyman, elected member, 48. 



Sparks, Jared, 214. 
elected member, 217. 
chosen Foreign Corres. Secretary, 
508, 525, 548. 
Speer, William, elected member, 78. 
Spofford, Benjamin F., 254, 263, 269, 

280, 288. 
Spofford, Horatio Gates, elected mem- 
ber, 42. 
Spooner, L., 306. 
Spooner, Nathaniel, 137, 166, 172. 

elected member, 42. 
Sprague, William B., 231, 498, 499, 

550- 
elected member, 491. 
gift of mss., 496. 
chosen Vice-President, 507, 525, 

548. 
gift from, 511. 
Squier, Ephraim George, 516, 518, 530, 

541, 543- 
Stackpole, James, 126. 
Stanhope, Earl, elected member, 103. 
Staniford, Daniel, elected member, 40. 
Stanton & Nichols, 229. 
Steams, John, 262. 
Stedman, WiUiam, elected member, 
41. 
on sub-council for Worcester, 80. 
Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron 

von, papers of, 496. 
Stevens, Henry, Jr., 470, 549. 
Stockton, Richard, elected member, 

78. 
Stoddard, Solomon, 490. 
Stone, Ethan, elected member, 131. 
Stone, Jotham, 254, 263, 269, 279, 288. 
Stone Chapel, 19, 20, 22, 24, 46, 103, 

104. 
Story, Joseph, 49, 271, 328, 486. 
elected member, 42. 
chosen Vice-President, 248, 263, 
276, 291, 298, 331, 341, 356, 382, 
399,423,431,449-472. 
death of, 493. 
Strachan, John, elected member, 491. 
Strong, Caleb, 5. 

elected member, 41. 
Strong, Lewis, elected member, 13. 
Sub-council, 19, 54. 

duties of, 72. 
Sully, Thomas, 351. 
Simmer, Mr., 47. 
Sumner, Charles, 448, 491. 
elected member, 441. 
on committee of publication, 449, 
472. 
Sumner, Charles P., 49, 99.' 
elected member, 42. 



58o 



Index 



Sumner, Joseph, elected member, i2, 

39- 
Swan, William C, 328. 
Swords, James, 397, 422, 447. 
elected member, 399. 

Taft, Bezaleel, 272. 

elected member, 167. 
Tannehill, Wilkins, 176. ' 

elected member, 208. 
Temple, Daniel, 421. 
Teniers, painting by, 416, 421. 
Tennessee Antiquarian Society, 176. 
Tenney, Samuel, elected member, 79. 
Thacher, George, elected member, 48, 
81. 

chosen Counsellor, 99, 127, 135. 
Thacher, James, elected member, 42. 
Thacher, Peter O., 49. 

elected member, 40. 
Thaxter, Caleb, 49. 

elected member, 42. 
Thaxter, Levi, 272. 
Thayer, Lewis, 261. 
Thomas, Benjamin F., 273, 412, 425, 
447,494, 521- 

elected member, 399. 

chosen Domestic Corres. Secretary, 
423, 43i> 449, 472, 484, 508, 525, 
548. 

chosen Counsellor, 431. 

writes Council Report, 442, 465, 

559- 
Thomas, Daniel, 272. 
Thomas, Isaiah, 1-236, passim, 275, 
281, 286, 288, 303, 315. 337, 374, 
45°, 526, 527. 

forms the Society, i. 

incorporator, 4. 

chosen President, 7, 47, 80, 99, 127, 
135, 145, 165, 171, 177, 201, 205, 
209, 211, 217, 223, 229, 234. 

on committee for By-laws, 7. 

donates collection of books, 9. 

writes account of Society, 19. 

on committee of nomination, 22, 
loi, 128, 138, 145, 146, 165, 173, 
177, 202, 206, 210, 212, 217, 224, 
229, 235. 

on committee for publishing by- 
laws, 22. 

in charge of library, 39. 

communications from, 51. 

will of, 239, 240, 241, 243, 255, 278, 
293, 342. 

action on death of, 240. 

memoir of, 302, 304. 

portrait of, 376. 

printing press of, 398. 



Thomas, Isaiah, monument in honor 

of, 531- 
Thomas, Isaiah, Jr., 6, 7, 21, 23, 39, 43, 
46, 49, 70, 77, 81, 97, 99, 100, 104, 

127, 130, 133, 13s, 136, 137, 261. 
incorporator, 4. 

chosen Treasurer, 38, 47, 80, loi, 

128, i35._ 

Thomas, Isaiah, of Cincirmati, O., 

elected member, 248. 
Thomas, Joshua, elected member, 42. 

chosen Counsellor, 165. 
Thomas, Richard, 126. 
Thomas, Samuel B., 273. 
Thompson, Abraham R., 99. 

elected member, 40. 
Thompson, Benjamin F., 420. 
Thompson, Charles, elected member, 

40. 
Thompson, Ira, 254, 263, 280, 288. 
Thompson, James, 100, 172, 173. 
Thompson, John, 138, 167. 

elected member, 137. 
Thompson, Jonathan, 100. 

elected member, 48. 
Tilden, Joseph, elected member, 48. 
Tilghman, WilUam, elected member, 

103. 
Tillinghast, Nicholas, elected member, 

43- 

Todd, Thomas, elected member, 167. 

Tompkins, Daniel D., elected mem- 
ber, 42. 

Torrey, Alfred, 261, 268, 280, 287. 

Tower, Horatio N., 362, 402. 

Tower & Raymond, 445. 

Town, Ithiel, 420. 

Transactions, Vol. I, 469, 528, 550. 
distributed, 227. 

Transactions, Vol. II, 171, 301, 339, 

343, 469, 529, 550- 
in press, 300. 
published, 331, 343. 
Transactions, Vol. Ill, 556. 
Treasurer, duties of, 10, 73, 245. 
first report of, 39. 
second report of, 49. 
report of, 129. 
Tremont House, 324, 337, 348, 367, 
388, 405, 423, 441, 462, 466, 478, 
491, 516. 
Trevett, Benjamin, elected member, 

48. 
Trevett, Samuel Russell, elected mem- 
ber, 48. 
Trimountain, 70. 

Trowbridge, E. H., 261, 268, 280, 287. 
Trumbull, Benjamin, elected member, 
48. 



Index 



581 



Tucker, Ichabod, 272. 
elected member, 79. 
Tuckerman, Edward, 272. 
Tudor, William, elected member, 53. 
Twichell, Abijah, 262. 
Tyng, Dudley A., elected member, 40. 

Updike, Wilkins, elected member, 78. 
Upham, George Baxter, elected mem- 
ber, 82. 
Upsala, Society of Antiquaries, 16. 

Van Rensselear, Stephen, 137, 166, 

172, 173- 
elected member, 42. 
Vanderkemp, Joseph Adrian, elected 

member, 178. 
Vandyke, Anthony, 237. 
Vater, John Severin, elected member, 

175- 
Vattemare, Alexander, 563. 
Vaughan, Benjamin, elected member, 

40. 
Vaughan, W., 228. 
Vaux, Robert, elected member, 285. 
Verplanck, Gulian C, elected member, 

154, 284. 
Vidaurre, Manuel L., 227. 

elected member, 230. 
Virginia, trade with, 113. 

Waldeck, Frederic de, 372. 

elected member, 382. 
Waldo, Daniel, 221, 298, 307, 331, 356, 
363, 367, 382, 385, 397, 399, 471- 
elected member, 211. 
Wallcut, Thomas, 6, 286, 296, 299. 

incorporator, 4. 
Walter, Nehemiah, 521. 
Ward, Artemas, 254, 262, 263, 269, 

272, 279, 287. 
Ward, James W., 328. 
Ward, Nahum, loi. 
Ward, Samuel, elected member, 78. 
Ward, Thomas W., elected member, 

21. 
Ware, Henry, 284. 

Warren, Henry, elected member, 145. 
Warren Hotel, 169. 
Washborne, John, 551. 
Washburn, Emory, 224, 272, 349, 408, 
484, 488, 491, 540. 
elected member, 217. 
chosen Counsellor, 357, 383, 399, 
423, 431, 449, 472, 484, 508, 525, 
548. 
writes Council Report, 359, 392, 

400, 434, 458, 486. 
writes Report on Library, 442. 



Washington, Bushrod, elected mem- 
ber, 40. 
Waters, Asa H., 440. 
Watson, Jacob W., 279, 280, 288. 
Watson, Elkanah, 328. 
elected member, 79. 
Watson, John F., 272. 
Watt, James T. B., elected member, 

41. 
Webb, Thomas H., 543. 
Webster, Daniel, 100. 
elected member, 48. 
bust by Clevenger, 428. 
Webster, Noah, Jun., elected member, 

12. 
Webster, Redford, 6, 7, 21, 48, 50. 
incorporator, 4. 
chosen Counsellor, 9, 47- 
on sub-council for Boston, 80. 
Weiss, John, 447. 
WeUington, Oliver, 254, 263, 269, 280, 

288. 
Wells, Daniel, 272. 
Wells, Martin, 272. 
Wells, Samuel, 385, 489, 512. 
elected member, 399, 428. 
Wells, WilHam, 6, 21. 

incorporator, 4. 
West, Benjamin, elected member, 43. 
West Indies, 113. 

Wetherby, Oliver, 261, 268, 281, 287. 
Wheatley, John, 333. 
Wheaton, Henry, elected member, 
167, 277. 
death of, 538. 
Wheeler, Henry, 272. 
Wheeler, Theophilus, 169, 220, 272, 
382. 
elected member, 154. 
Wheelock, Clarendon, 261, 268, 275, 

280, 288. 
Wheelock, John, elected member, 12. 
Whiting, J. D., 448. 
Whitman, Isaac Winslow, elected 

member, 42. 
Whitman, Jonas, elected member, 42. 
Whitman, Kilborn, 70, 81, 99. 
elected member, 42. 
chosen Counsellor, 127, 135, i4S- 
Wilder, David, 273. 
Wilder, Thomas, 262. 
Wiley & Putnam, 513. 
Wilkins, Charles, loi. 
elected member, 103. 
Wilkinson, William, 49, 77, 81, 100, 
137, 162, 172. 
elected member, 13. 
Willard, Calvin, 273. 
Willard, Joseph, 242, 354, 367, 525- 



S82 



Index 



Willard, Joseph, elected member, 211. 
on committee of publication, 249, 

264. 
chosen Counsellor, 276, 292, 299, 
332, 357, 383, 399, 423, 431, 449, 
472, 484, 508, 525, 548. 
Willard, Rev. Samuel, elected mem- 
ber, 13, 49. 
Willard, Sidney, 21, 49. 

elected member, 12. 
Williams, John Bickerton, 353. 

elected member, 349. 
Williams, Lemuel, 541, 542. 
WilUams, Roger, 90, 106, 404. 
Williams, Samuel, elected member, 

145- 
Williams, Stephen, elected member, 

.137- 
Williams, Thomas, elected member, 

. /45- 
Williams, Thomas, Jun., 46. 
Williams, Timothy, 6, 21. 

incorporator, 4. 
WiUiamson, Hugh, elected member, 

40. 
Wilson, James, postmaster, 268. 
Wilson, James, elected member, 103. 
Wilson, Joshua Lacey, 173. 

elected member, 79. 
Wilson, Robert G., 138, 167, 173. 

elected member, 79. 
Wilson, William, elected member, 131. 
Winslow, Isaac, elected member, 42. 
Winslow, John, elected member, 42. 
Winter, Calvin, 263, 280, 288. 
Winthrop, Adam, elected member, 

211. 
Winthrop, James, 21, 49, 122. 

elected member, 12. 

chosen Counsellor, 99, 127, 135, 145, 

. 165. 
Winthrop, John, portrait presented, 

237- 
portrait of, 366, 375, 555. 
Winthrop, Robert C, 540, 550. 



Winthrop, Robert C, elected member, 

356. 
Winthrop, Thomas L., 49, 172, 178, 
179, 203, 205, 217, 228, 232, 242, 
248, 252, 26s, 271, 277, 292, 293, 
300, 303, 304, 305, 324, 326, 331, 
333, 337, 346, 348, 367, 368, 38s, 
388,403, 411,451,468. 
elected member, 12. 
chosen Counsellor, 171, 177, 201, 

205, 209, 212, 217. 
chosen Vice-President, 223, 229, 

234- 
chosen President, 248, 263, 276, 291, 

298, 341, 356, 382, 399- 
presents collection of English his- 
tory, 351. 
portrait of, 351, 376. 
death of, 406. 
Winthrop, WiUiam, 39, 122. 

elected member, 21. 
Wolcott, Oliver, elected member, 42. 
Wood, Amasa, 287. 
Wood, J., 262. 

Woods, Leonard, elected member, 478. 
Woodward, Samuel B., 272, 448, 489. 

elected member, 405. 
Woolley, Abraham R., 173. 

elected member, 78. 
Worcester, Joseph E., 297. 
Worcester CofJee House, 44, 77- 
Worcester County Athenaeum, 328. 
Worcester Coimty Historical Society, 

220. 
Worcester County Lyceum of Natural 

History, 220. 
Worcester Magazine, 312. 
Worcester Odd Fellows' Society, 231. 
Worthington, Erastus, 272. 
Wright, Charles C, 132. 
Wright, John, elected member, 79. 
Wyhe, Aiidrew, elected member, 78. 

Young, Alexander, 439, 493, 554- 
elected member, 405. 



LhMr '13 







■■ ' >=^ ^ " ^ aT "^-^ ° " ° A° ^?^ "' V^^ 



■"^-^ < ^ s • • »■ 






o 






-^^0^ 






A 



< 



-1 CK 



<*. 







.■^ 



rO^ 


















°<^ '^'"'° ^0 ^^ "^ vv °^ 

** -^^ \ ^^K*" J'''^. "'^^^WS 













4 CI 



-^^^ 









